Apigenin Alleviates Liver Fibrosis by Inhibiting Hepatic Stellate Cell Activation and Autophagy via TGF-β1/Smad3 and p38/PPARα Pathways

Figure 1

Effects of apigenin on liver and LX2 cells. Notes: (a) the CCK8 assay was used to determine the effects of apigenin on the viability of LX2 cells. (b) Cells were treated with the indicated concentrations of apigenin for 24 hours, and the degree of apigenin to inhibit cell proliferation was measured using BrdU Cell Proliferation ELISA Kit (^@ for 20 μM apigenin vs. 0 μM apigenin; ^& for 40 μM apigenin vs. 20 μM apigenin; ^~ for 60 μM apigenin vs. 40 μM apigenin). (c) The levels of serum ALT and AST are presented as . One-way ANOVA indicated that there was no significant difference among the three groups (; ). (d) Representative H&E-stained hepatic sections were examined under light microscopy and imaged at a 200x magnification. (e) Western blot analysis of IL-1β, TIMP1, α-SMA, and LC3 protein levels.

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