Figure 2

Hepatic smooth muscle α-actin (α-SMA) and collagen type-1α1 (Col-1α1). (a–d) Representative images of α-SMA immunofluorescence stained liver sections ( × 40) from healthy rats (CT), pre-ascitic cirrhotic rats (CH^Basal) and rats receiving the vehicle (CH^Vehicle) or 10 mg/kg/day of the cannabinoid type 1-antagonist Rimonabant (CH^Rimonabant) for 2 additional weeks. (e) Hepatic gene expression of α-SMA. Values were determined by real-time PCR and expressed as fold induction over control healthy rats. (f) Densitometric quantification (upper) and representative image (lower) of western blot analysis of hepatic α-SMA protein expression. (e) Hepatic gene expression of Col-1α1. Values were determined by real-time PCR and expressed as fold induction over control healthy rats. Data are expressed as mean±s.e.