Figure 1.

Light microscopic analysis of HSCs stained with Oil Red-O at different stages of transdifferentiation in primary culture. (A) Representative micrographs of HSCs cultured for 40 hours (A), 7 days (B) or sub-cultured for 5 days (C) showing changes in the morphology (from stellate shape to myofibroblast-like cells) and contents of lipid droplets. Note that HSCs cultured for 40 h contain variable amounts of lipid droplets. In sub-cultured (first passage) cells, there were no detectable lipid droplets as judged by Oil Red-O staining (data not shown). Original magnification: ×100. The micrographs shown are representative of cells obtained from at least two different preparations.