Schistosoma japonicum egg antigen up-regulates fibrogenesis and inhibits proliferation in primary hepatic stellate cells in a concentration-dependent manner

Figure 1 Masson staining of 6 wk post-infect mice livers (× 200). A: Normal mice; B: Infected mice, the red arrow indicated the eggs deposited in the vein, the blue represented acidophilic necrosis, and the black was the collagen fiber deposited around the vein.

Figure 2 Immunofluorescence staining in primary primary hepatic stellate cells (× 400). A: α-Smooth muscle actin (red hue); B: Desmin (green hue); C: Overlay.

Figure 3 Inhibitory proliferation of Schistosoma japonicum egg antigen in primary hepatic stellate cells. The black dots were quantification of 3 independent experiments.

Figure 4 Western blotting (A, B) and real-time polymerase chain reaction (C) of α-smooth muscle actin, matrix metalloproteinase-9 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 induced by Schistosoma japonicum egg antigen in primary hepatic stellate cells. A: Western blotting of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMOL/LP-9) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1), and representatives of 3 independent experiments; B: The histograms reported as ratio of respective target gray scale to that of β-actin. C: The histograms represented the fold change of target genes normalized to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase levels and quantified of 3 independent experiments. ^aP < 0.05 vs 0 μg/mL.

Figure 5 Western blotting of phospho-P38, phospho-Jun N-terminal kinase and phospho-Akt activation induced by Schistosoma japonicum egg antigen in primary hepatic stellate cells. A: Western blotting of phospho-P38 (P-P38), phospho-Jun N-terminal kinase (P-JNK) and phospho-Akt (P-AKT), and representatives of 3 independent experiments; B: The histograms respectively reported as ratio of P-P38/T-P38, P-JNK/T-JNK, and P-AKT/T-AKT. ^aP < 0.05 vs 0 μg/mL.