Figure 4

Effects of conditioned medium (CM) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-CM on liver regeneration in partially hepatectomized mice. Mice were intravenously injected with low-glucose Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (control), LPS (0.5 ng/mL), CM, or LPS-CM 1 hour after partial hepatectomy (PH). (A) Representative micrographs show liver sections stained with anti-Ki67 antibody 24 hours after PH (magnification, 400×). (B) The percentage of Ki67-positive cells in the liver on days 1, 2, and 3 after PH (P <0.05). (C) Western blotting of liver lysates showing that the LPS-CM group had the highest expression of PCNA and p-STAT3 on day 2 after PH. (D) Liver regeneration rate (percentage) based on the ratio (percentage) of liver weight to body weight (LW/BW) on day 7 after PH; the highest regeneration was observed in the LPS-CM group (P <0.05). *P <0.05. PCNA, proliferating cell nuclear antigen; p-STAT3, phospho-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3; STAT3, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3.