Figure 4.

Bergenin inhibits the TGF-β1/Smads pathway by activating PPAR-γ. (a) mRNA expression of PPAR-γ and TGF-β1 assessed by real-time PCR (n = 8). (b) Protein expression of PPAR-γ and TGF-β1 assessed by western blotting. The quantitative evaluation was determined by relative band density. (c) Immunohistochemical staining of PPAR-γ and TGF-β1 (original magnification = 200x). ^∗p < 0.05 for CCl₄/BDL vs. sham, ^#p < 0.05 for CCl₄/BDL+B20 vs. CCl₄/BDL, and ^{^}p < 0.05 for CCl₄/BDL+B40 vs. CCl₄/BDL+B20.