Northern blots (A) and Western immunoblots (B) of NCX in cultured rat hepatic stellate cells. (A) NCX mRNA expression in stellate cells cultured for 1–7 days and in rat heart (positive control). (Lower) The same blot reprobed with G3PDH probe as a control. The relative level of NCX mRNA expression at the 1.8-kb band against G3PDH mRNA expression was determined by densitometric normalization to be 0.44, 1.18, 1.42, 2.38, and 2.93 on days 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 of cultured rat stellate cells, respectively, when the relative level for rat heart was set at 1.00. (B) NCX protein expression in the membrane fraction of cultured rat stellate cells and in that of dog heart (positive control). Lanes: 1, control dog heart; 2, stellate cell cultured for 1 day; 3, stellate cell cultured for 7 days. Molecular weight markers in kDa are indicated on the left.