Figure 7.

Administration of anti-glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (anti-GDNF) antibodies reduces liver fibrosis development in mice. (A) Anti-GDNF-blocking antibodies blunted carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)-induced liver injury (intraperitoneal injections; Ab1: 400 ng/g BW; Ab2: 400 ng/g BW administered for 3 weeks (once a week), starting from the second week after CCl₄ treatment); controls were treated with IgG (400 ng/g BW). (B, C) Sirius red and α-SMA staining (original magnification, ×100). The positive stained area was calculated as a percentage. Col1α1 and α-Sma mRNA expression levels are shown as the fold downregulation in comparison to untreated animals. Bars indicate the mean±SD of three independent experiments; n=6 per group; one-way analysis of variance with the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used in parts A–C.