Histopathological Analysis of Hepatic Tissues

Hepatic tissues were preserved in 10% formalin. They were then routinely processed until being embedded in paraffin blocks. Sections were cut to a 5 μm thickness andprocessed until being stained with hematoxylin and eosin according to Bancroft and Layton [32 ]. For immunohistochemical staining of the hepatic sections, the primary antibody against caspase-3 (polyclonal rabbit anti-cleaved caspase-3 at dilution 1:100, BioCare Medical, Cat: CP229C, Concord, CA, USA) was utilized. Immunostaining intensity was quantified using Image J software (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA) [33 (link)].