Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-7 induces activation and transdifferentiation of hepatic stellate cells in vitro

Figure 1 In vitro expression of IGFBP-7 in HSC. A: Detection of IGFBP-7 by Western blotting. Cultured HSC were incubated with TGF-β1; lysates were harvested after 24 h, and analyzed by Western blotting for IGFBP-7. β-actin was managed as a loading control. Each experiment was replicated 6 times. M: Marker; 1: Control group; 2, 3, 4, 5 represent 2 &mgr;g/L, 4 &mgr;g/L, 8 &mgr;g/L and 16 &mgr;g/L TGF-β₁, respectively; B: Expression of IGFBP-7 in activated HSC. Expression of IGFBP-7 was examined on HSC-coated dishes after treatment with TGF-β₁ at different concentrations for 24 h (a-e indicated control, 2 &mgr;g/L, 4 &mgr;g/L, 8 &mgr;g/L and 16 &mgr;g/L TGF-β1, respectively). IGFBP-7 was detected by immunocytochemistry, and the level of the expression of IGFBP-7 was enhanced in a dose-dependent manner to some extent compared with the control group. Original magnification: × 200.