Regeneration and DNA demethylation do not trigger PDX-1 expression in rat hepatocytes

Figure 1 Schematic representation of the timing and molecular events that occur during liver regeneration. A: Schematic representation of the timing and molecular events that occur during liver regeneration. In the right panel, proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunodetection confirmed that, 24 h after hepatectomy, cell proliferation was reactivated; B: Real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification of some important genes involved in insulin synthesis from pancreas and regenerating liver total RNA; C: RT-PCR amplification of the PDX-1 gene from pancreas and liver total RNA. PC-1: Pro-hormone convertase 1; Ins-1: Insulin 1; Ngn3: Neurogenin 3; Btc: β-cellulin.

Figure 2 Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction amplification profiles of GAPDH (green line), Hxk 2 (red line) and PDX-1 (blue line), and relative melting curves from total RNA of Clone-9 hepatocytes grown with or without 5 μmol/L 5-aza-deoxycytidine for 4 d. In the graphic representation below, data from at least three independent experiments that used different RNA preparations were normalized vs the negative control (mean ± SD); the Hxk 2 mRNA levels increase when cells are cultured in the presence of the drug, as expected, but no increase in the PDX-1 mRNA was observed. 5-aza-dC: 5-aza-deoxycytidine.