Figure 7.

Activin A downregulates α‐SMA and upregulates IL‐6 in PSCs to promote KPC proliferation. A) PSC proliferation by Inhba siRNA. B) Western blot analysis of PSCs stimulated with activin A (5 ng mL⁻¹) in the absence or presence of SIS3 (0.5 µm). C,D) Relative protein expression after normalization with ponceau S staining. E) Representative immunocytochemistry staining of IL‐6 or pSMAD3 with PSCs. Scale bar = 150 µm. F) Absorbance of crystal violet from KPC 8069 24 h after the treatment with conditioned media from PSCs. In vitro data were obtained from three independent experiments(n = 3). *P<0.05; **P<0.01; n.s., not significant.