Figure 1

Effect of Matrigel-induced deactivation on the morphology of activated rat activated HSCs. Primary rat HSCs were plated either on plastic (left) or Matrigel-coated (right) tissue culture dishes and cultured for 3 days. Confocal microscopic images of HSC plated on plastic or Matrigel-coated dishes following staining with α-SMA antibody (green) and TOPRO-3 nuclear stain (blue). HSCs cultured on plastic dishes exhibit myofibroblast-like features, immunostaining for α-SMA, while cells plated on Matrigel-coated dishes stained weakly for α-SMA.