Fig. 3

Liquiritigenin blocks TGF-β1-induced myofibroblast differentiation. A A CCK-8 assay was employed to determine non-toxic concentrations of liquiritigenin for myofibroblasts. B, C qPCR analysis depicted the impact of pretreatment with liquiritigenin at 3 μM, 10 μM, 30 μM, and 100 μM for 2 h on the mRNA levels of TGF-β-induced collagen I and α-SMA. D–F Protein expression levels of the myofibroblast markers collagen I and α-SMA were assessed using Western blotting. G–H Immunofluorescence microscopy visualized the effect of liquiritigenin on the TGF-β1-induced increase in collagen I and α-SMA expression levels, with scale bars representing 100 μm. Data are presented as means ± standard deviation, and each experiment was independently repeated at least three times. (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001)