Figure 6

CirNG2⁺ cells response to grafted MLpvNG2⁺ cell signals.

NG2-expressing cells were isolated from liver of mice that had been administered DEN for 6 weeks (designated CirNG2⁺ cells) by using same procedure as used for MLpvNG2⁺ cells. (A) (a,b) Cultured CirNG2⁺ cells (a) and stained with antibody against NG2 (b). Immunocytochemistry of differentiated OV6⁺ and Alb⁺ cells from CirNG2⁺ cells cultured in Cir-cell-hm (Ba–c, g) and Cir-P-hm ( = Cir-PBS-hm) (Bd–g) (n = 3). DAPI (blue) staining was used to visualize nuclei. **P < 0.01 vs. Cir-P-hm. Conditioned medium was then collected from cultured MLpvNG2⁺ cells (MLNG2-CM) and CirNG2⁺ cells (CirNG2-CM) and injected into DEN-induced liver cirrhosis model. Four weeks after injection, liver sections from all treated groups were stained with Masson for fibrogenesis detection. (Ca–d) Masson staining for fibrosis in the livers of naïve (a), DEN (b), DEN plus MLNG2-CM (c) and DEN plus CirNG2-CM (d). (Ce) Summarized data depicting the analysis from Ca-d (n = 4). Scale bar = 100 μm. Data are shown as mean ± SEM, **P < 0.01 DEN⁺ MLNG2-CM vs. DEN⁺ CirNG2-CM.