Alpha smooth muscle actin α sma

Salidroside and pentobarbital sodium salt were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Co. (St Louis, MO, USA). Carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) was purchased from China Sinopharm International Corporation (Shanghai, China). The kits for determining alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (cat no C009-2), hydroxyproline (cat no A030-2), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (cat no C010-2) were purchased from Jiancheng Bioengineering Institute (Nanjing, China). The primers were obtained from Generay (Shanghai, China). The primary antibodies used in the study were as follows: alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases (TIMP1), matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2), NF-κB, nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cell inhibitor alpha (IκBα), Beclin-1, LC3, and p62 (all 1:1,000; Proteintech, Chicago, IL, USA), collagen-I (Col-1), TGF-β1, F4/80, Smad3, and p-Smad3 (all 1:500; Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), and β-actin (1:1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Danvers, MA, USA). The PrimeScript™ RT Reagent Kit and SYBR Premix Ex Taq were purchased from TaKaRa Biotechnology (Dalian, China).