Fig. 2

Synergistic regulation of signaling pathways for hepatic specification and proliferation. a Wnt, TGF-β, and HH signaling pathway-related gene expression was analyzed by RT-PCR. Data are presented as mean ± SEM, n = 3. b Immunostaining analyses of Ki67 and AFP expression after different small molecule treatment. c Efficiency of Ki67 and AFP expression after small molecule treatment, determined by counting positive cells. Efficiencies are presented as the percentage of positive cells plus or minus the SD of all fields counted. d Analyses of small molecule effect on HB proliferation. Data are presented as mean ± SEM, n = 3. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. e Transcript markers of different cell lineages in HBs treated with different small molecules. Data are presented as mean ± SEM, n = 3. f Model of signaling pathways that regulate self-renewal and differentiation of human HBs