Histological and biochemical assessment
According to our previous publication (Jiang et al., 2019), liver
samples were fixed in formalin, embedded in paraffin, sectioned and
stained for haematoxylin and eosin (H&E staining). Paraffin-embedded
sections were stained with β-catenin antibody (BD Biosciences, 610153,
San Jose, CA) and KI67 antibody (Abcam, ab15580). Olympus BX41
microscope was used to examine the stained liver sections. Serum alanine
aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline
phosphatase (ALP), total bile acid (TBA) and total bilirubin (TBLI)
levels were detected by commercially available kits (Nanjing Jiancheng
Bioengineering Institute, China) guided by the manufacturer’s protocols.