Immunohistochemical Analysis of Liver Tissue

Sections from the left lateral and caudate lobe of the liver were subjected to immunohistochemistry with primary antibodies specific for CD3, CD68, and phosphorylated-histone H2A.X (γH2A.X) as listed in Table 1. After dewaxing and pretreatment, tissue sections were immunostained in a Histostainer™ system (Nichirei Biosciences, Tokyo, Japan). Briefly, sections were treated with 5% skimmed milk in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) for 10 min, with each primary antibody at room temperature for 1 h, with 3% H₂O₂ in PBS for 15 min, and with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody (Histofine Simple Stain MAX PO^®; Nichirei Biosciences, Tokyo, Japan) at room temperature for 30 min. Positive reactions were visualized with a DAB substrate kit (Nichirei Biosciences, Tokyo, Japan). Sections were counterstained lightly with hematoxylin. In order to evaluate hepatocellular apoptosis and necrosis, sections were subjected to terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay as previously described [14 (link)].