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Figure 2 | Molecular Medicine

Figure 2

From: p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase and Liver X Receptor-α Mediate the Leptin Effect on Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein-1c Expression in Hepatic Stellate Cells

Figure 2

p38 MAPK mediates the inhibitory effect of leptin on SREBP-1c gene expression in cultured HSCs. (A) Western blot analysis showed leptin-induced activation of p38 MAPK (p-p38) (n = 3). (B, C) Western blot and real-time PCR analysis of SREBP-1c protein (B) and mRNA (C) levels, respectively (n = 3). HSCs were pretreated with SB203580 (SB) at 10 µmol/L for 30 min before incubation with or without leptin for an additional 24 h. *P < 0.05, #P > 0.05 versus cells without treatment; **P < 0.05 versus cells with leptin alone. (D) Transfection assay for analysis of SREBP-1c promoter activity. HSCs in 12-well plastic plates were transfected with a fixed amount of a DNA mixture (including pSREBP1c-Luc, pdnP38, pRL-TK and the empty vector) per well and treated with 100 ng/mL leptin for 24 h (n = 6). The empty vector was used to ensure the equal amount of total DNA in transfection assay. *P < 0.05 versus the control with leptin alone (the first column on the left). #P > 0.05 versus the cells without pdnP38 and leptin (the first column on the right).

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