Fig. 5

p38 suppression reversed long term TS exposure-triggered CSC-like properties. Mice exposed to TS were treated with or without p38 MAPK inhibitor (SB 203580) for 12 weeks, and representative micrographs of liver tissue were stained with H&E (a). b Immunohistochemical staining for EpCAM, CD133 and Nanog, Oct4 in liver tissues. c-f Fold changes of EpCAM (c), CD133 (d), Nanog (e) and Oct4 (f) - positive area in TS group compared with FA group. g Western blotting of EpCAM and CD133 in liver tissues. β-actin was served as the loading control. h-i The indicated proteins relative to β-actin were assessed by densitometric analysis; six animal samples per group were used for the densitometric analysis. Data are expressed as mean ± SD. The significance was assessed with one-way ANOVA test. # P < 0.05, ## P < 0.01, compared with FA control; * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, compared with TS + DMSO group. FA = filtered air; TS = tobacco smoke