Salvianolic Acid B Inhibits Activation of Human Primary Hepatic Stellate Cells Through Downregulation of the Myocyte Enhancer Factor 2 Signaling Pathway

Conclusion The MEF2 transcription factor is stimulated by TGF-β1 in H-HSCs. Antagonizing TGF-β1-induced activation of the MEF2 signaling pathway may account in part for the anti-fibrosis effects of SA-B. Author Contributions WZ and JP performed the experiments and wrote the manuscript. YZ assisted with the animal experiments. GC assisted with histomorphological experiments. LX designed the experiments and interpreted data. Funding This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30271657), and Project of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (No. 15401902600). Conflict of Interest Statement The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Acknowledgments We thank Professor Zixu Mao at the Department of Pharmacology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322 USA; Qiang Xia at the Liver Transplantation Center of Renji Hospital, Shanghai, China; Zhihai Peng at the Liver Transplantation Center of Shanghai First People’s Hospital, China; and Qian Yang at Emory University School of Medicine for their assistance in this study. Abbreviations DMN, dimethylnitrosamine; ERK, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1; GFAP, glial fibrillary acidic protein; H-HSCs, human hepatic stellate cells; p38 MAPK, p38 mitogen-activated protein kina...
Source: Frontiers in Pharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research