Figure 2

Serum lipid profiles, cytokines, hepatic protein expression, and gene expression in stellate cells. (A) Serum ALT and lipid profiles. (B) Serum high-performance liquid chromatography for cholesterol or triglycerides (six sera combined). (C) Serum TNF-α and IL-1β were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. (D) Nucleoprotein was extracted from the liver (Nuclear Extract Kit; Active Motif), and NF-κB p65 activity was measured (TransAM NF-kB p65 Chemi; Active Motif). (E) Liver western blots for Lxrα, Abca1, Mttp, CD36, caspase-1, Akt, and Gapdh. Full-length blots are presented in Supplemental Fig. 3. Images were scanned and quantified by ImageJ software. (F) Liver stellate cells were isolated and examined for gene expression of Tnfa, Il1b, Il6, Nlrp3, and Ccl5. Results are presented as the mean ± SD, and p values were calculated using one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test (A–D), Student’s t test (E), and Welch's t test (Fig. 1F). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001, C vs. N group or N vs. NP group. The number of mice in each group: C, n = 6; N, n = 6; NP, n = 6. ALT, alanine aminotransferase; TC, total cholesterol; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; TG, triglycerides; MW, molecular weight.