Fig. 6. Treatment with cortistatin reduces mortality and disease
severity in experimental toxic-induced hepatic fibrosis. Severe hepatic
fibrosis was induced in CST+/+ mice by
repetitive injections of a high-dose of CCl4. Mice were
then treated i.p. with PBS or with cortistatin starting on day 5 (early
regime) or day 14 (delayed regime) as indicated in the diagram. Mice
injected i.p. with vehicle (olive oil) instead CCl4 were
used as controls (n=5 mice). (A ) Survival was daily monitored.
(B ) Hepatic fibrosis and damage were determined by using the
histopathological Ishak score and quantifying fibrotic area in Sirius
red-stained sections (13-20 mice/group). (C ) The presence of
α-smooth muscle actin (αSMA)-positive myofibroblasts in liver sections
was determined by immunofluorescence (12 mice/group). Scale bars:
100-µm. Data are the mean±SEM. **p<0.01, ***p<0.001
vs. PBS-treated mice. All panels were analyzed with unpaired two-tailed
Student’s t-test, unless survival that was analyzed with Kaplan-Meier
log-rank test, and Ishak scores that were analyzed with Mann-Whitney
U-test.