Fig. 3.

SHED transplantation suppresses the activation of hepatic stellate cells in livers of CCl₄-treated mice. a–c Expression of alpha smooth muscle actin (αSMA). a Immunohistochemical staining with anti-αSMA antibody in recipient livers. b αSMA-positive area. c Real-time RT-PCR analysis of mouse αSMA (mαSMA) mRNA. d, e Real-time RT-PCR analysis. d Expression of mouse MMP9 and MMP2 (mMMP9, mMMP2) and mouse TIMP1 and TIMP2 (mTIMP1, mTIMP2) mRNA in recipient livers. e Expression of mouse interleukin-6 (mIL-6), mouse transforming growth factor β1 (mTGFβ1), and mouse tumor necrosis factor alpha(mTNFα) mRNA in recipient livers. b–e n = 5 for all groups. *P <0.05, **P <0.01, and ***P <0.005. ns no significance. Graph bars show the mean ± SD. Control, olive oil-injected group; CCl₄, CCl₄-treated group; CCl₄ + SHED: SHED-transplanted CCl₄-treated group. CCl ₄ carbon tetrachloride, MMP matrix metalloproteinase, SHED stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth, TIMP tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase