Expression of connective tissue growth factor is enhanced in human and rat liver fibrotic tissues

Objective To explore the role of connective tissue growth factor(CTGF)in the mechanism of liver fibrosis.Methods Liver fibrosis models of rats were made by subcutaneously injecting with CCl4.On the other hand,32 human liver cirrhosis and 12 normal liver tissues were collected too.Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of CTGF in these tissues.Results The expression of CTGF in rats after injection with CCl4 was found mainly in hepatic stellate cells(HSC) and hepatocytes are all significantly higher than those in normal rats.Moreover,it presents with progressive tendency for the expression of CTGF in rats respectively at 1st,4th and 8th week after injection of CCl4.The same tendency was found in human normal and fibrotic liver tissues(P0.01) too.Conclusion The over expression of CTGF may accelerate the procedure of liver fibrosis via enhancing HSC proliferation and the ECM increasing,and plays an important role in liver fibrogenesis.