Berberine Inhibition of Fibrogenesis in a Rat Model of Liver Fibrosis and in Hepatic Stellate Cells

Figure 3

Nontoxic BBR suppressed the activity of hHSC. (a) The normal hepatocyte cell line L-02 in 96-well plates was treated with BBR for 24 hr and cell viability was determined by MTT assay. The IC₅₀ of BBR on L-02 cells was around 250 μM. (b) BBR suppressed hHSC migration. Cells in serum-free medium were seeded onto the Transwell and medium containing 10% FBS was used as attractant to initiate cell migration. After different doses of BBR were added, the cells were cultured for 24 hr, fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde, and then stained with 2% crystal violet. Three images were captured for each well and the representative images are shown. BBR treatment significantly reduced cell motility. (c) BBR downregulated α-SMA expression in constitutively activated hHSC. Cells were treated with BBR for 24 hr and then fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde. The expression of α-SMA was stained (red) and nuclei were stained with Hoechst 33342 (blue). Three images were captured per treatment group and the representative image of each group is shown. BBR treatment significantly reduced α-SMA expression in constitutively activated hHSC. versus control.

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