Fig. 4

Galectins mediate hepatic stem cell expansion. a Co-localization of galectin-1 and Ki67 at 2 weeks after 2-AAF/PH treatment. Scale bar: 100 μm. b Proportion of the Ki67⁺ cells enriched in galectin-1 positive and negative domains. c Frequency of H-CFU-C with size over 50 cells/colony and 100 cells/colony were compared with or without HSCs co-culture at day 5 (n = 4). d, e Relative change of H-CFU-C rate under supplements of different concentrations of anti-galectin-1/anti-galectin-3 antibodies (d), or under supplements of recombinant mouse galectin-1 with different concentrations (e). Mean value of the no treatment samples was set as reference (n = 3–5). f Relative H-CFU-C rate in the presence of 10% FBS, 1% FBS, and 1% FBS with supplements of recombinant mouse galectin-1 (15 μg/ml) or with HSCs co-culture (n = 4). Nuclei were stained with DAPI. Data are shown as means ± SD. ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01, ^***P < 0.001. ns, no significance; PV, portal vein; HSCs, hepatic stellate cells; HSPCs, hepatic stem/progenitor cells; H-CFU-C, hepatic colony-forming units in culture