Fig. 4.
Activation of hepatic stellate cells by media transferred from liver endothelial cells. (A) Primary hepatic stellate cells (HSC) from wild-type (WT) mice were incubated with either regular media (Reg-Med), media transferred from LEC of WT controls (WT-Med) or media transferred from LEC of VECad+Cc1fl/fl mice (KO-Med) in the presence (+) or absence (−) of Nilotinib (Nilo), an inhibitor of PDGFR-B kinase. HSC activation was determined by qRT-PCR analysis of mRNA levels of genes relative to Gapdh in triplicate. Values were expressed as mean ± SEM. *P< 0.05 vs Reg-Med and WT-Med without Nilo, †P< 0.05 vs KO-Med without Nilo. (B) same as A, but in addition to KO-Med, media was also transferred from LEC of VECad+Et1.Cc1fl/fl mice (DKO-Med) in the presence (+) or absence (−) of Bosentan (Bos), a dual antagonist of endothelin1 receptor-A and -B.