Western Blot Analysis of Protein Levels

Western blot analysis was conducted following a similar procedure as described previously [21 (link)]. The protein levels were normalized using the “Pierce BCA Protein Assay Kit” from Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA. Cell lysates containing 15 μg of total protein per lane were prepared using a sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) sample buffer. Subsequently, the samples were separated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and transferred onto polyvinylidene difluoride membranes. The membranes were then probed with the following antibodies: mouse anti-human β-actin (Proteintech, IL, USA), perilipin (Cell Signaling, MA, USA), and rabbit anti-rat IgG HRP (Proteintech, IL, USA). Densitometric analyses of the blots were performed using ImageJ software.