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. 2013 Dec 10;8(12):e82571. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082571

Figure 3. Direct versus NK-mediated in vitro effects of CpG on HSCs cultures.

Figure 3

Liver NK cells obtained from naïve (plain bars) and fibrotic mice treated with CpG (black bars) versus vehicle (gray bars) were in vitro co-cultured with WT isolated HSCs; then HSCs proliferation were determined as described in Materials and Methods. A) Isolated HSCs mono-cultured with 1% FCS-enriched DMEM showed a significant increase of proliferation following direct CpG incubation (vertical gradient bars) as compared to DMEM vehicle-treated cells (horizontal gradient bars). B) Co-culture with the CpG-treated NK cells decreased HSCs proliferation (P<0.01) as compared to controls. C) Co-culture of liver NK cells from fibrotic CpG-treated mice with HSCs increased their adherence (P<0.01) as compared to the vehicle-treated fibrotic NK cells. D & E) NK increased adherence (P<0.01) and cytotoxic marker CD107a (P=0.01) when HSCs were cultured with lymphocytes from fibrotic CpG-treated mice.