Fig. 6. Treatment with cortistatin reduces mortality and disease severity in experimental toxic-induced hepatic fibrosis. Severe hepatic fibrosis was induced in CST+/+ mice by repetitive injections of a high-dose of CCl4. Mice were then treated i.p. with PBS or with cortistatin starting on day 5 (early regime) or day 14 (delayed regime) as indicated in the diagram. Mice injected i.p. with vehicle (olive oil) instead CCl4 were used as controls (n=5 mice). (A ) Survival was daily monitored. (B ) Hepatic fibrosis and damage were determined by using the histopathological Ishak score and quantifying fibrotic area in Sirius red-stained sections (13-20 mice/group). (C ) The presence of α-smooth muscle actin (αSMA)-positive myofibroblasts in liver sections was determined by immunofluorescence (12 mice/group). Scale bars: 100-µm. Data are the mean±SEM. **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 vs. PBS-treated mice. All panels were analyzed with unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test, unless survival that was analyzed with Kaplan-Meier log-rank test, and Ishak scores that were analyzed with Mann-Whitney U-test.