Expression of HMGB1, TLR2 and TLR4 in livers of infants with biliary atresia (BA) and in bile ducts of mice challenged with RRV.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Paraffin sections of liver tissues from infants at the time of operation for congenital dilation of the bile duct (CDB) (N = 5) or BA (N = 9) immunostained with anti-HMGB1, anti-TLR2 or anti-TLR4 antibody. Brown staining represents positive signals. The scale bar = 20 µm. (<b>B</b>) Protein levels of HMGB1, TLR2 and TLR4 detected by western blotting in liver tissues from patients with CDB or BA. The protein levels are normalized to β-actin. (<b>C</b>) mRNA levels of HMGB1, TLR2 and TLR4 detected by realtime RT-PCR. The data are normalized to <i>GAPDH</i>. (<b>D</b>) All mice were injected with 50 µl vehicle medium or 50 µl RRV supernatant intraperitoneally within 12 hours after birth and were euthanized 7 days later. Paraffin sections of livers were immunostained with anti-HMGB1, anti-TLR2 or anti-TLR4 antibody. The scale bar = 15 µm. (<b>E, F</b> and <b>G</b>) mRNA levels of HMGB1, TLR2 and TLR4 in livers were detected by realtime RT-PCR. The data are normalized to <i>GAPDH</i>. *<i>p</i><0.05, **<i>p</i><0.01; N = 7–16 mice per group. The values were expressed as mean ± SD.