Figure 2. CC chemokine neutralization prevents hepatic fibrogenesis.
Mice were infected with Ad35k or a GFP-expressing control adenovirus (AdGFP). Mice underwent BDL 2 days after infection, and were sacrificed 3 or 17 days later. (A) 35k expression was determined by immunoprecipitation immunoblot for HA 3 or 17 days after BDL. Fibrillar collagen was determined 17 days after BDL by Sirius red staining of uninfected control liver (n = 3 for sham, n = 5 for BDL), Ad35k-infected liver (n = 3 for sham, n = 8 for BDL), and AdGFP-infected livers (n = 3 for sham, n = 8 for BDL). Original magnification, ×100. (B and C) Hydroxyproline levels (B) and Western blot for α-SMA (C; 3 representative samples per condition) were determined 17 days after BDL. (D) The mRNA levels of profibrogenic markers were determined by quantitative real-time PCR in sham-operated mice or mice that underwent BDL for 3 days and are expressed as fold change compared with control sham-operated mice. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. Ctrl, uninfected control mouse group.