Fig. 4: Cr³⁺ ameliorates hyperglycaemia stress through targeting ATP synthase in cells and diabetic mice.

a Comparison of glucose consumption in HepG2 cells. n = 3; mean ± SEM. Two-sided Student’s t test. Representative western blot (b) and quantification results (c) showing the effect of ATP5B gene silencing on Cr³⁺-mediated regulation of glycolysis and glycogenesis enzymes in HepG2 cells. n = 3; mean ± SEM. Two-sided Student’s t test. d Schematic illustration of animal study. e Blood glucose levels in db/db and wild-type (WT) mice with or without treatment of Cr³⁺ (n = 6). f Cr³⁺ contents in the livers of both db/db and wild-type (WT) mice with or without treatment of Cr³⁺ (n = 6). g Cr³⁺ inhibits ATP synthase activity in db/db mice (n = 6). h AMP/ATP ratios in the livers of db/db and WT mice with or without Cr³⁺ treatment (n = 6). For (f–h), centre line, median; box limits, upper and lower boundary, 75 and 25% interquartile ranges respectively; whiskers, maxima and minima; points, all data points. Two-sided Student’s t test. i Cr³⁺ activates AMPK and ACC in db/db mice. n = 6; mean ± SEM. Two-sided Student’s t test. j Proposed scheme showing that Cr³⁺ ameliorates hyperglycaemia stress through inhibition of ATP synthase and subsequent activation of AMPK in diabetic mice. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.