The purpose of this study is to verify the inhibitory effect and the underlying mechanisms of Carapax Trionycis extract peptide (CTEP) on activated hepatic stellate cells which play a central role in liver fibrogenesis.
Hepatic stellate cells induced by TGF-¦Â1 were applied to evaluate the anti-fibrotic effect of CTEP in vitro. MTS assay, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and western blotting were then used to further investigate the molecular mechanisms.
The results show that the contents of collagen I, collagen III and TIMP-1 were significantly inhibited and the level of collagen I, collagen III, p-Smad 3, TIMP-1 and ¦Á-SMA proteins decreased significantly in a concentration-dependence manner after treatment with CTEP. Interestingly, the level of Smad 3 protein was not different significantly.
Our data indicate that CTEP efficiently inhibits cultured HSC-T6 cell activation and proliferation via the TGF-¦Â1/Smad pathway as well as by the elimination of the extracellular matrix.