Figure 2.

Histologic abnormalities in E1/2KO livers. A) Liver morphology at 3 and 8 mo of age. Paraffin-embedded sections were stained with H&E. Top panels are E1/2KO livers showing normal histology at 3 mo. Middle and bottom panels are E1/2KO livers showing a nodular appearance and inflammatory infiltration in portal and periportal areas at 8 mo. PV, portal vein; CV, central vein. B) Top panels show representative immunofluorescence staining for cell proliferation marker Ki67 (red) at 3 mo. Nuclei were counterstained with DAPI. Bottom panels show immunofluorescence staining with A6, a biliary/progenitor cell marker at 8 mo. Representative confocal images show the presence of numerous A6-positive ductular cells (arrows) only in E1/2KO livers. Nuclei were counterstained with DAPI. C) Increased expression of progenitor cell-related genes in E1/2KO livers at 8 mo determined by RNA-seq. Cuffdiff (14) was used to detect significantly up-regulated genes with an FDR-adjusted P value of 0.05 (asterisk).