Fig. 3.

Regulation of Notch pathway-related markers expression in HSCs by TGF-β1 signaling. a mRNA expression of Notch pathway-related target genes Notch1, Jagged1 and Hes1 were tested by qRT-PCR. Notch1, Jagged1, and Hes1 mRNA expression was significantly upregulated in HSCs after stimulating with exogenous TGF-β1; however, expression of these markers was at the lowest level in SB431542-treated HSCs. b Protein expression of Notch1, Jagged1, Hes1 was assessed with western blotting. Expression of Notch pathway-related proteins was all significantly upregulated in the TGF-β1-activated HSCs compared with control HSCs, but their expression was obviously downregulated after inhibiting TGF-β1 signaling in HSCs. ***p < 0.01 and *p < 0.05 compared with the control group respectively; Scale bars = mean ± SEM, n = 3/group. c Images were captured under a fluorescence microscope (200×). HSCs expressed high levels of Jagged1 in the cytoplasm of activation group; however, Jagged1 was seldom expressed in the control and TGF-βR1-inhibited HSCs, n = 6/group