3.3. Agomelatine treatment ameliorates intestinal barrier dysfunction.
Mucosal integrity appeared compromised in untreated HFD-fed mice, demonstrated by a down-regulation of intestinal epithelial markers, such as Muc-2 , Muc-3 , Occludin , Tff-3 andZo-1 (Figure 6A). The administration of agomelatine and melatonin was able to increase the expression of these markers (Figure 6A). Obese mice also displayed a higher expression of Tlr-4 in liver (Figure 6B) which was downregulated by all the treatments.