Fig. 3

Effect of BBR on ductular proliferation and cholestatic liver fibrosis in Mdr2^−/− mice. a Representative images of liver sections stained with Picro-Sirius Red (scale bar, 100 µm for 10 × and 20 µm for 40 × magnification). b Quantification of Sirius red staining. c Representative images of IHC staining of CK19 (cytokeratin 19). d Quantified positive area of CK19 staining. e Representative images of IHC staining of Ki67. f Quantification of Ki67 positive cells. g Relative mRNA levels of key genes involved in ductular proliferation and cholestatic liver fibrosis: Ck19, α-Sma, Ctgf, C-myc, Postn, and H19. The mRNA levels were determined by real-time RT-PCR and normalized with HPRT1 as an internal control. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. Statistical significance relative to Control group is indicated as *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 (n = 9–12)