Fig. 3.

Hepatic total retinyl ester and retinoic acid concentrations, serum retinol levels, and retinoic acid-responsive gene expression in the livers of wild-type and Lrat^−/− mice at early times following PHE. (A) Total retinyl ester (RE) concentrations were determined for liver lobes from wild-type mice at time 0 and at early stages of liver regeneration (12 and 36 h following PHE). Values marked with different letters (a, b, c) are significantly different, P < 0.05. (B) Hepatic retinoic acid (RA) concentrations were determined by LC/MS/MS for liver lobes from wild-type and Lrat^−/− mice at time 0 and at initial stages of liver regeneration (12 and 36 h following PHE). Values marked with different letters (a, b) are significantly different, P < 0.05. (C) Serum retinol levels for wild-type and Lrat^−/− mice at 0, 12, and 36 h following PHE. Values marked with different letters (a, b) are statistically different, P < 0.05. (D) Gene expression levels for known retinoic acid-responsive genes (CrbpI, Pdk4, p21, and Cyp26A1) determined by qRT-PCR for RNA obtained from liver lobes harvested at time 0 from wild-type and Lrat^−/− mice and in the initial stages of liver regeneration (12 and 36 h following PHE). Values marked with different letters (a, b, c) are significantly different, P < 0.05. All values are given as the mean ± 1 SD, n = 10 for each time and genotype.