FIGURE 8.
Effects of defective ObRb function on fibrogenic repair of liver damage and stellate cell trans-differentiation. Obese diabetic db/db mice and wild type (WT) controls were treated with MCD or control diets for 8 weeks to induce liver injury and fibrosis. A, representative sections of Picrosirius red-stained livers from db/db and WT mice (magnification, × 1,000,510). B–D, morphometric analysis of Picrosirius red-stained sections (B), relative hydroxyproline content (C), and relative αSMA mRNA content from control and MCD diet-treated db/db and WT mice (D). D, primary HSCs from ObRb-defective fa/fa (Zucker-Leprfa) rats and lean (Zucker-Lepr+) rats cultured in serum-containing medium. Changes in gene expression were evaluated by qRT-PCR. For HSCs from each strain, mRNA expression in day 7 cultures were compared with that of freshly isolated cells (day 0). Mean ± S.E. (error bars) data from triplicate experiments are graphed. *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; †, p < 0.005.