Vitamin C deficiency attenuates liver fibrosis by way of up-regulated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma expression in senescence marker protein 30 knockout mice

Senescence marker protein 30 (SMP30), an important aging marker molecule that is highly expressed in the liver, has been known to protect hepatocytes from apoptosis by the synthesis of vitamin C. To explore the function of SMP30 in liver fibrosis, the effect of SMP30 deficiency on liver fibrosis was investigated in SMP30 knockout (KO) mice. Moreover, the in vivo results were further confirmed by way of hepatic stellate cell (HSC) isolation. We...