Oct4 and Hnf4α-induced hepatic stem cells ameliorate chronic liver injury in liver fibrosis model
Fig 5
Therapeutic effects of transplanted iHepSCs in CCl4-induced chronic liver fibrosis model.
(A) Scheme for in vivo experiment. (B) Immunofluorescence images of GFP-labeled iHepSCs in liver sections of the mice. The yellow area represents the successful engraftment of iHepSCs into the liver through the spleen (4.07 ± 0.33%). The nucleus was stained with DAPI. Scale bar: 150 μm. (C-D) Images of H&E and Sirius red staining for liver sections of fibrosis mice model. The black box enlarged in below. Scale bar: 150 μm. (E) Quantification of the fibrotic area (%) of liver isolated from (D). Sirius red staining shows collagen deposition of liver. Fibrous positive area (%) was analyzed by using software image J 1.51J. *, P<0.05. (F) Serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (n = 9). *, P<0.05. (G) Gene expression analysis of fibrotic genes (Alpha-1 type 1 collagen: Col1a1; alpha-smooth muscle actin: α-SMA) in the liver tissues by qPCR. The transcriptional levels were normalized by the housekeeping gene (Gapdh). Error bars indicated standard errors from triplicate samples (n = 3). *, P<0.05.