Fig. 5

Airn inhibited HSC activation indirectly through maintaining LSEC differentiation. A Primary HSCs at day 2 were transfected with siAirn-1, siAirn-2, or siRNA-Control for 48 h. The RNA level of Airn, α-SMA, Col1α1, and Mmp2 was detected by qRT-PCR. B The protein level of α-SMA, COL1α1, and MMP2 was determined by western blot and quantitatively compared with GAPDH as a reference control. C The expression of α-SMA and COL1α1 was determined by confocal microscopy and quantitatively compared. DAPI-stained nuclei blue; scale bar, 20 μm. D Schematic diagram illustrating the design of the co-culture experiments. The primary HSCs derived from health mice were co-cultured with the Airn-silenced or -over-expressed of primary LSECs by transwell, or co-cultured with untreated LSEC. E, F The expression of α-SMA, COL1α1, and MMP2 in co-cultured with the Airn-silenced or -over-expressed LSECs was determined by western blot and quantitatively compared with GAPDH as a reference control. G The expression of α-SMA and COL1α1 in co-cultured with the Airn-silenced or -over-expressed LSECs was determined by confocal microscopy and quantitatively compared. DAPI-stained nuclei blue; scale bar, 20 μm. The data are expressed as the mean ± SD for at least triplicate experiments, *p<0.05 stands for vs siRNA-Control or LV-Control