You need to first load the file and store it in a variable.
This Variable must be centrailized such a way that enitre app uses this variable.
for Example:
properties (Access = public)
var=load('\path_to_location\example.mat'); % specify the path to mat file
end
methods (Access = public)
function results = fun1(app)
results=app.var.d;
end
You can first start with this sample example.mat
You can create some variables inside the .mat file and try it.
here is the documentation of Matworks for App Designer.