Fig. 1

Intrahepatic atypical cholangiocyte proliferation was associated with COX-2 upregulation in cirrhotic patients and chronic hepatic injuries in mice. a Ductular reaction marked with CK19 and COX-2 in the liver tissue sections of patients with HBV cirrhosis (IF). b Ductular reaction marked with CK19 (IHC) in TAA-treated mice was reduced with COX-2 panknockout. c The CK19-positive area and number of bile ducts in the WT-NS, WT-TAA, and KO-TAA groups were measured. ****p < 0.0001 (one-way ANOVA, n = 6/group). d Ductular reaction marked with CK19 in the BDL and DDC models (IHC). e and f COX-2 expression in the livers of the WT-NS and WT-TAA groups was measured by WB and qPCR. Images were cropped and scaled for illustration purposes from original Western blot images provided in supplementary files. Black and white Scale bars 50μm, yellow scale bar 1cm. ****p < 0.0001 (t-test, n = 6/group)