Protective Effect of Astaxanthin on Liver Fibrosis through Modulation of TGF-1 Expression and Autophagy
Figure 3
Effect of astaxanthin on the activation of HSCs. (a) The analysis of western blotting showed that astaxanthin obviously decreased the expression of -SMA, -pdfgr, and collagen I with the doses of 40 mg/kg and 80 mg/kg. (b) The mRNA levels of collagen I 1, collagen I 2, -SMA, and -pdgfr were significantly downregulated by astaxanthin (40 mg/kg and 80 mg/kg). Data are expressed as mean SD (, for CCL4 + AST(40) versus CCL4, for CCL4 + AST(80) versus CCL4). (c) The areas of positive cells of -SMA, -pdfgr, and collagen I were diminished by astaxanthin (40 mg/kg and 80 mg/kg), showed by immunohistochemistry staining (original magnification: ). (d) The IODs of -SMA, -pdfgr, and collagen I were analyzed by Image-pro Plus 6.0. There existed a significant decrease with astaxanthin (40 mg/kg and 80 mg/kg) treatment (, for CCL4 + AST(40) versus CCL4, for CCL4 + AST(80) versus CCL4).
