Figure 4.

Effect of sub‐chronic treatment with TG68 and IS25 on hepatocyte proliferation. A) Microphotograph illustrating the presence of several BrdU‐positive hepatocyte nuclei (X20, counterstained with haematoxylin); rats were sacrificed 1 week after continuous treatment with TG68, IS25 and T3. TG68 and IS25 were administered at the dose of 12.5, 25 and 50 μg/100g b.w. dissolved in drinking water. T3 was administered in the diet at a final concentration of 4mg/kg diet. All animals received BrdU (1 g/L) in drinking water all throughout the treatment period; B) Labelling index (LI). LI was expressed as number of BrdU‐positive hepatocyte nuclei/100 nuclei; C) Mitotic index (MI). MI was expressed as number of mitoses/1000 nuclei. At least 3000 hepatocyte nuclei per liver were scored. Results were expressed as means ± SD of 3‐5 rats per group. (one‐way ANOVA). Statistically significant for *P < .05; **P < .01; ***P < .001; D) Western blot analysis showing increased expression of cyclin A, PCNA and cyclin D1 in the liver of rats treated with TG68 and IS25 (50 μg/100g b.w., dissolved in drinking water) for 7 days. For Western blot, total cell extracts were prepared from frozen livers, and the membrane was probed with the indicated antibodies. Actin was used as loading control. Each lane represents an individual sample. CO, controls