Fig. 2.

Hepatic production of PGE₂ in cirrhosis.

(A) Plasma PGE₂ from portal, hepatic, and peripheral blood from 17 patients undergoing TIPS. (B) Representative pathway of PGE₂ synthase. (C) Western blot protein expression of COX-1 within cirrhotic and healthy livers with results normalised to expression of the reference protein GAPDH (n = 3 per group). Immunohistochemical analyses in healthy and cirrhotic livers and healthy kidneys (with representative photos in Fig. S4) of (D) mPGES1 synthase expression, (E) mPGES2, and (F) cPGES. Digital H-Scores presented for liver sections stained with each antibody for 3 groups (kidney n = 1, healthy liver n = 3, cirrhotic liver n = 10). COX, cyclooxygenase; cPGES, cytosolic PGE synthase; mPGES, microsomal PGE synthase; PGE₂, prostaglandin E₂; TIPS, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt insertion.