Fig 1: Fatty acid induces Ccl20 expression from dermal blood endothelial cells (BECs) and epidermal keratinocytes. (a) Fold induction of Ccl2, Cxcl16, Ccl20 mRNA in the dermis of ND- or HFD-fed mice in the steady state, as analyzed by qRT-PCR. Results are presented relative to those of ND. The average mRNA expression levels in ND-fed mice are set as 1. (b) Immunohistochemical staining for CCL20 (green) and CD31 (red) in the ear skin of steady state ND and HFD-fed mice. Arrowheads in the panels indicate CCL20+CD31+ cells. Scale bars = 50 µm. (c) Fold induction of Ccl20 mRNA in the steady state epidermis, as analyzed by qRT-PCR. Results are presented relative to those of ND. The average mRNA expression level in ND-fed mice is set as 1. (d) Fold induction of CCL20 mRNA expression in human dermal BECs and epidermal keratinocytes cultured with or without fatty acids for 24 h. Results are presented relative to those of the vehicle-treated group. The average mRNA expression levels in ND-fed mice are set as 1. Pal: palmitic acid, Ste: stearic acid, Ole: oleic acid, Lin: linoleic acid. Results are expressed as the mean ± SEM. p-values were obtained by (a,c) Mann-Whitney-U-test and (d) one way ANOVA. *p = 0.05. Data are pooled from two experiments with four mice (a), two experiments with three mice (c). Data are from one experiment, representative of three independent experiments with three to four mice (b), three experiments performed in triplicate (d).