Figure 3.

Transient thrombocytopenia partially protects CCl₄-induced liver fibrosis. (A) Experimental protocol showing IgG vs anti-GP-1bα (α-GP1bα) injection times and the CCl₄ challenge time points (indicated by arrows) for the duration of the 36-day experiment. (B) Platelet counts showed marked thrombocytopenia in WT mice 1 day after α-GP1bα antibody administration (P = .01 for isotype-matched IgG vs α-GP1bα injections). (C) Picrosirius red staining images at 36 days (both light and polarized light microscopy) showed fibrotic areas in liver sections of WT mice pretreated with IgG or α-GP1bα and then subjected to CCl₄ challenge. (D) Quantification of liver fibrosis showed that mice pretreated with α-GP1bα (n = 7) had significantly less fibrosis than those pretreated with IgG (n = 5; P = .01) at 36 days.