Figure 8.

Activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) is required for curcumin to differentially regulate gene expression of sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs) in activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) in vitro. Passaged HSC were pretreated with the PPARγ antagonist PD68235 (20 µmol·L⁻¹) for 30 min prior to the addition of curcumin (20 µmol·L⁻¹) for an additional 24 h. Whole cell proteins were prepared for Western blotting analyses of SREBPs. β-actin was used as an invariant control for equal loading. Representative results from one of three independent experiments. Italic numbers beneath the blots were fold changes in the densities of the bands compared to the control without treatment in the blot (mean; n= 3), after normalization with the internal invariable control β-actin. Because of the limited space, standard deviations were not presented. PD, PD68235.