Fig. 2

Activation of the IL-6-STAT3-SOCS3 pathway in circulating leukocytes. a Plasma cytokine IL-6 in non-diabetic (CON, n = 7) and STZ-induced diabetic mice (DM, n = 13). b The gating strategy to identify pSTAT3⁺ leukocyte by flow cytometry. FSC and SSC were used to identify blood leukocytes. pSTAT3⁺ leukocytes were then identified. c The percentage of pSTAT3⁺ leukocytes in non-diabetic (CON, n = 5) and diabetic mice (3-month diabetes duration, n = 4) after IL-6 stimulation. d The mean fluorescent intensity (MFI) of pSTAT3 in circulating leukocytes from control (n = 5) and diabetic mice (3-month diabetes duration, n = 4) after 40 min IL-6 stimulation. e mRNA level of SOCS3 in circulating leukocytes in control (n = 4) and diabetic mice (n = 8). Data were presented as mean ± SEM. a Mann-Whitney test, c–e Student t test. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01