The Protective Effects of Trypsin Inhibitor on Hepatic Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury and Liver Graft Survival

Figure 4

Hepatocyte apoptosis, Caspase-3, Bcl-2, and Bax gene expression on liver tissue. (a) Hepatocyte apoptosis TUNEL evaluation revealed a significantly reduced number of hepatocellular apoptotic nuclei treated with UTI at 6 hours, especially in the combined treatment group ( versus versus ), . (b) In terms of percentage calculation, three specimens in each group were stained under a 400x light microscope and 4–10 positive fields were observed in each section. The mean ratio of positive cells (brown-yellow stained cells) accounting for total cell count in each group was taken. (c) Caspase-3 and Bax gene expression on liver tissue was reduced, but Bcl-2 was increased significantly in the UTI-treated group, tested by Western blot. (d) The ratios of Bax/Bcl-2 were versus versus , versus versus , and versus versus . Cleaved-caspase-3/beta-actin was versus versus , versus versus , and versus versus in the LR + UTI, LR + UTI + RT, and LR groups at 1 h, 6 h, and 18 hours after OLTx, respectively. ().

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