C3 deficiency alleviated liver injury after the LPS/D-GalN injection.

<p>Wt C57BL/6 mice and C3^−/− mice were injected with LPS/D-GalN i.p. and euthanized at 0, 1, 4 and 8 hours after the LPS/D-GalN injection. The left panels (A–D) shows the H&E staining of wt C57BL/6 mouse liver sections at the designated time points and demonstrates the progression of liver damage over time. The right panels (G–J) shows the corresponding liver sections of the C3^−/− mice, revealing less severe liver damage. (E, K) Immunohistochemical staining for C5b-9 in liver sections in wt mice and C3^−/− mice 8 hours after LPS/D-GalN injection. (F, L) Depiction of whole explanted livers demonstrating the different degree of hemorrhage. Each image is representative of 4–5 mice per group. Magnification of the H&E stained images: ×200.