Journal: Journal of Clinical and Translational Hepatology
Article Title: PDK4 Regulates Inflammatory Injury in Acute-on-chronic Liver Failure by Phosphorylating STAT1-mediated M1 Polarization of Macrophages
doi: 10.14218/JCTH.2025.00343
Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) Cell viability of THP-1 macrophages treated with increasing concentrations of PDK4-IN (0–40 µM) for 24 h was assessed by CCK-8 assay. (B) Protein levels of the M1 markers CD86 and iNOS were analyzed by Western blot. (C) The proportion of CD86 + cells was determined by flow cytometry. (D) CD68 (red) and CD86 (green) expression was visualized by immunofluorescence staining; nuclei were counterstained with DAPI (blue); scale bar = 100 µm. Quantification of fluorescence intensity is shown on the right. (E) mRNA expression of IL-6 and TNF-α was measured by RT-qPCR. (F) Secreted levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in the supernatant were quantified by ELISA. (G) Flow cytometric analysis of apoptosis in LO2 cells cultured with conditioned media derived from macrophages. (H) CCK-8 assay of viability in LO2 cells cultured with conditioned media derived from macrophages. Data are presented as mean ± SD (n = 3). Statistical significance was determined by unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test (for comparisons between two groups) or one-way ANOVA (for comparisons among multiple groups). ns, P > 0.05, * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001. PDK4-IN, pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 inhibitor; CCK-8, Cell Counting Kit-8; CD86, cluster of differentiation 86; iNOS, inducible nitric oxide synthase; IL-6, interleukin-6; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-alpha; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; IFN-γ, interferon-gamma; DAPI, 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole; ns, not significant.
Article Snippet: After deparaffinization and antigen retrieval, sections were blocked with 5% BSA and incubated with primary antibodies against PDK4 (Proteintech), CD68 (Abcam, Cambridge, UK), and CD86 (Abcam), followed by corresponding fluorophore-conjugated secondary antibodies.
Techniques: CCK-8 Assay, Western Blot, Flow Cytometry, Expressing, Immunofluorescence, Staining, Fluorescence, Quantitative RT-PCR, Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay, Cell Culture, Derivative Assay, Two Tailed Test, Cell Counting