Progression of fibrosis with moderate ethanol intake and superimposed CCl₄ liver injury.

<p>C57BL/6J mice were allowed free access to 2% (vol/vol) ethanol diet or pair-fed control diet and then exposed to intraperitoneal CCl₄ injections for 2 weeks or 5 weeks. (<b>A</b>) Collagen 1 staining was performed on frozen liver sections at 2 weeks and 5 weeks. (<b>B</b>) Paraffin-embedded liver sections were de-paraffinized followed by Sirius red staining to assess ECM deposition at 2 weeks and 5 weeks. Representative images are shown. (Solid arrow: immunostaining pattern consistent with bridging fibrosis. Open arrow: immunostaining pattern less than bridging fibrosis.) Morphometric analysis with Image-Pro-Plus software was used for semi-quantification. Value represents mean ± SEM. n = 4 in pair-fed diet, n = 6 in ethanol-fed diet. Values with different alphabetical superscripts were significantly different from each other, p<0.05.