Fig. 5: Gli1⁺ biphenotypic cells contribute to the formation of new hepatocytes for liver repair upon chronic injury.

a Schematic diagram showing the lineage tracing strategy by Dre-rox recombination using Tmprss2-Dre^ERt2;R26-RSR-tdTomato mice. b Schematic illustration of the experimental design. c Immunostaining for tdTomato (red) and EpCAM (green) in liver sections from Tmprss2-Dre^ER;R26-tdTomato mice and the quantification of the percentage of tdTomato⁺ cells among EpCAM⁺ cells. PV portal vein. Scale bar, 50 μm. Data are shown as means ± SEM (n = 5). d Schematic diagram showing the lineage tracing strategy by Dre-rox and Cre-loxP recombination using Gli1-Cre^ERt2;Tmprss2-Dre^ERt2;Ai66 mice. e Schematic illustration of the experimental design. f Immunostaining for tdTomato (red) and HNF4α (green), KRT19 (green) or EpCAM (green) in liver sections from Gli1-Cre^ERt2;Tmprss2-Dre^ERt2;Ai66 mice. Scale bar, 50 μm. g Quantification of the percentage of tdTomato⁺ cells among EpCAM⁺, KRT19⁺ or HNF4α⁺ cells. Data are shown as means ± SEM (n = 5). h Flow cytometric analysis of the percentage of tdTomato⁺ cells. i Schematic illustration of the experimental design. j Immunostaining for tdTomato (red) and HNF4α (green) in liver sections from Gli1-Cre^ERt2;Tmprss2-Dre^ERt2;Ai66 mice after DDC-induced injury. Scale bars, 50 μm.