Skip to main content
. 2020 Nov;190(11):2267–2281. doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2020.08.002

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2, alias PKM) promotes the activation and proliferation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). A: Left panel: Fold-change of Pkm2, Acta2, and Col1a1 mRNA expression in primary HSCs isolated from mouse normal liver and cultured for the indicated periods. Double immunofluorescence staining (middle panel) and Western blot (right panel) analysis of the indicated genes in cultured HSCs at the indicated days. B: The mRNA and protein level of PKM2 and HSC activation markers in LX-2 cells after transfection with control siRNA (siCtrl) or PKM2 siRNA (siPKM2) for 72 hours. C: LX-2 cells and primary mouse HSCs were transfected with control or PKM2 siRNA, and then subjected to Cell Counting Assay Kit-8 assay. D: The proliferation of LX-2 cells transfected with control siRNA or PKM2 siRNA is measured using the 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) assays. E: The migration capability of LX-2 cells transfected with control siRNA or PKM2 siRNA is measured using the wound-healing assays. Dashed lines indicate the edge of cell migration. ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗P < 0.01, and ∗∗∗P < 0.001 versus siCtrl. Scale bars: 50 μm (A, middle panel); 100 μm (D and E). GAPDH, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; PAI-1, plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1; PDGFRβ, platelet-derived growth factor receptor-β; pHSC, primary mouse hepatic stellar cell; α-SMA, α-smooth muscle actin.