Fig 3. BBR potentiated liver inflammation in the PI*Z hAAT transgenic mice.

The Pi*Z transgenic mice were treated with 50 mg/kg/day of berberine chloride (n = 7, 5 females, 2 males) or solvent only (n = 7, 4 females, 3 males) for 30 days. H&E staining was performed on the liver sections. (A) Focal inflammatory infiltrations (generally focus size was less than 100 μm) in the liver sections of untreated Pi*Z mice. (B) and (D) present larger inflammatory infiltratory lesions in the liver sections of BBR-treated Pi*Z mice. Most of the lesions are in the pericentral areas. (C) The quantification of the percentage of infiltrated area in the BBR-treated and the untreated Pi*Z mice from two in vivo experiments. The data from male and female mice were calculated separately because very rare inflammations were observed in male mice in both BBR-treated and untreated mice. Arrow: inflammation focus. Pi*Z: protease inhibitor (SERPINA1) Z allele. H&E: hematoxylin and eosin.