Fig. 7.

Changes in mRNA expression of mesenchymal markers in cultured human HSC during myofibroblastic transition and effects of Hh pathway modulation. A and B: primary HSC were harvested from a residual ssegment of healthy human liver tissue that was used for split-liver transplantation. HSC were culture activated to MF-HSC on plastic dishes in serum-containing medium. qRT-PCR was done to compare gene expression in Q-HSC and MF-HSC (A) and after MF-HSC were treated with tomatidine or cyclopamine for 4 days (B). C: effects of similar treatment with tomatidine or cyclopamine on gene expression in the clonal human MF-HSC line LX-2. Values are means ± SE of triplicate experiments. *P < 0.05; †P < 0.005.