Fig. 4

Reversal of activated PSCs and ECM reduction in vitro. a Immunofluorescence (IF) staining of HSP47, nile red staining of lipid droplets, IF staining of α-SMA, Sirius red staining of deposited collagen and IF staining of fibronectin in PSCs after treatment with the indicated formulations for 48 h at pH 6.5. Scale bars, 20 μm. b Quantification of the normalised HSP47 protein expression (using Image J software). c Quantification of the normalised α-SMA protein expression (using Image J software). d Normalised deposited collagen by measuring extracted Sirius red dye at 540 nm. e Quantification of the normalised fibronectin protein expression (using Image J software). f Western blot analysis of secreted collagen I in the PSCs culture supernatant and fibronectin in whole cell lysates after treatment with the indicated formulations for 48 h at pH 6.5. g Quantitative analysis of the normalised fibronectin and collagen I protein expression (using Image J software). The data are shown as the mean ± s.d. (n = 3). ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01, ^***p < 0.001 (Student’s t test)