Cell lines and culture

The immortalized rat Hepatic Stellate Cell lines (HSC-T6) were received from Prof. Chang-Gue Son (Korean Hospital of Daejeon University, Daejeon, Korea). The Chang liver cell line was purchased from the American Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA, USA). HSC-T6 cells were cultured in DMEM (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) supplemented with 5% FBS and 1% antibiotic-antimycotic (Invitrogen) in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO₂ at 37℃. The Chang liver cell line was used as a normal human cell line derived from normal liver tissue. The cells were cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and 1% antibiotic-antimycotic in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO₂ at 37℃. For activation, HSCT6 cells were serum starved before treatment with OJE