Embryonic hepatocyte transplantation for hepatic cirrhosis: Efficacy and mechanism of action

Figure 8 Immunohistochemical staining of rat livers in each group. A: α smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression (arrow) was only observed in the vascular wall of the normal group; B: α-SMA (arrow) was highly expressed in the periportal areas and fibrous septa of livers from the untreated cirrhotic group; C: The cell transplantation group exhibited noticeably weaker α-SMA (arrow) expression than the untreated cirrhotic group; D: Weak endothelin-1 (ET-1) (arrow) expression was detected in a few sinusoid endothelial cells of livers from the normal control group; E: Clear ET-1 expression (arrow) was observed in the pseudo-lobules of livers from the untreated cirrhotic group; F: Clear ET-1 (arrow) expression in the fibrous septa of livers from the untreated cirrhotic group; G: In the cell transplantation group, ET-1 (arrow) expression was only observed in the sinusoid endothelial cells. Scale bars: 20 μm.