Similar to what was observed in pseudoglandular stage, canalicular stage HFLF displayed a decreasing trend of ACTA2 expression when treated with FGFR2 siRNA and rhFGF18 ( p = 0.08; Figure 2B ), whereas FGFR3 siRNA combined with rhFGF18 showed no change.
PPARγ gene expression demonstrated an increasing trend in both pseudoglandular and canalicular stage cells treated with FGFR2 siRNA supplemented by rhFGF18, whereas a significant upregulation was observed for FGFR3 siRNA treated with rhFGF18 in the pseudoglandular stage only (0.003 ± 0.0005 vs. 0.002 ± 0.004; p = 0.008; n = 3; Supplementary Figure S2H ).