Hepatotropic growth factors protect hepatocytes during inflammation by upregulation of antioxidative systems

Figure 3 Hepatotropic growth factors increase nitric oxide formation in primary rat hepatocytes. NO₂^- plus NO₃^- (empty bars) and RSNO (grey bars) levels demonstrated a significant increase after hepatocyte (N = 5, n = 3) pretreatment with growth factors and subsequent stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-containing cytokine mixture (CM), if compared to treatment with LPS-containing CM alone [except for pretreatment with hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) alone]. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.005, ^cP < 0.001 vs corresponding untreated rat hepatocytes; ^dP < 0.05, ^eP < 0.005, ^fP < 0.001 vs corresponding rat hepatocytes treated with LPS-containing CM alone. NO: Nitric oxide; EGF: Epidermal growth factor; TGF: Transforming growth factor.