Figure 1

HBs-Tg mice are more susceptible to CpG-induced liver injury and cytokine production. HBs-Tg mice and C57BL/6 mice were injected intravenously with CpG (6 μg/g body weight). (a) Serum ALT levels and (b) liver samples were collected 24 h after CpG challenge and then were prepared and stained with H&E (original magnification × 200). The arrows show hepatocyte damage and the circle shows leukocyte infiltration. (c–e) Serum cytokine levels were measured at the indicated time points after CpG or ODN control challenge. Values in a, c, d and e are shown as the mean±s.e.m. from five mice at each time point in each group and are from one representative experiment of two independent experiments. *P<0.05 compared with the other three groups (that is, B6 ODN control, B6 CpG ODN and HBs-Tg ODN control) determined by one-way ANOVA/Tukey’s test. ALT, alanine aminotransferase; ANOVA, analysis of variance; HBs-Tg, hepatitis B surface antigen transgenic; H&E, hematoxylin and eosin; ODN, oligodeoxynucleotide.