Figure 6. Male and female FAK^fl/fl mice were treated with AAV8-TBG-Cre (AAV-Cre) or AAV8-TBG-Null (AAV-Null) and then given 0.1% DDC diet to induce liver fibrosis.

(A) Weight changes were not significantly different between male AAV-Null (n = 7) and AAV-Cre (n = 7) mice. Percentage weight loss in female mice was significantly different between AAV-Null (n = 5) and AAV-Cre (n = 5) at days 7, 14, and 21 by Student’s 2-tailed t test (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01). Linear regression analysis showed that elevations of the AAV-Null and AAV-Cre female weight loss lines were significantly different (P < 0.0001). Data represent mean ± SEM. (B) Serum liver function tests for AAV-Null (male n = 4, female n = 5) and AAV-Cre mice (male n = 4, female n = 5). Data show individual data points and mean ± SEM. (C) Representative liver histology. Scale bar: 100 μm. (D) Liver hydroxyproline content of AAV-Null male (M; n = 4) and female (F; n = 5) compared with AAV-Cre male (n = 4) and female (n = 5) mice. (E) mRNA expression of various collagen species as determined by qRT-PCR in AAV-Null (M, n = 4; F, n = 5) and AAV-Cre (M, n = 4; F, n = 5) mice. For all collagen genes, 2-way ANOVA showed no significant interaction between AAV genotype and sex, whereas genotype contributed significantly to the overall variation (P < 0.05). For B and E, *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01 by Student’s 2-tailed t test. Box plots show individual data points, median, interquartile range, and range.