Fig. 2

EGF, FGF2, retinol, palmitic acid, and oleic acid act synergistically to negatively regulate the expression of ACTA2, COL1A1, and LOX in human primary HSCs. a Human aHSCs were exposed to recombinant human EGF (20 ng/mL), FGF2 (10 ng/mL), a combination of both, or a combination of oleic acid (100 μM) (OA), palmitic acid (100 μM) (PA), and retinol (5 μM) for 5 days. Extracted RNA was processed and analyzed for ACTA2, COL1A1, and LOX expression by RTq-PCR. Results are presented as relative fold change to untreated control cells (dotted line). b mRNA expression levels of ACTA2, COL1A1, and LOX in non-cultured quiescent (q), culture activated (a), and reverted (r) HSCs incubated for 5 days with RM (20 ng/mL EGF, 10 ng/mL FGF2, 100 μM OA, 100 μM PA, 5 μM R) from three different (corresponding) donors. The expression levels are presented as relative fold change to aHSCs. The results presented are from three to five different donors. In the graphs, the results are displayed as means ± SEM. ns not significant, p ≥ 0.05, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. c α-SMA, COL1A1, and GAPDH protein levels in aHSCs and rHSCs from corresponding donors