Fig. 5: Conditional loss of FoxO3 only in adult mice promotes liver regeneration via hepatocyte proliferation.

a Schematic of AAV-Cre injection in adult FoxO3^fl/fl mice followed by PH performance and EdU injection at individual time points. b qPCR validation of FoxO3 expression in livers from AAV-Cre and control mice (n = 3 mice). c, d Representative western blot images (c) and quantification (d) of FoxO3 expression in primary hepatocytes. e Recovery of liver weight in control and AAV-Cre mice after PH (n = 10 mice per group). f Representative images of livers from control and AAV-Cre mice at 2-7 dpH. g The actual ratio of liver weight (LW) to body weight (BW) at the indicated time points after PH (n = 10 mice per group). h, i Liver AST (h) and ALT (i) levels in control and AAV-Cre mice pre- and post-PH (n = 3 mice per group). j, k Representative images (j) and quantification (k) of EdU⁺ HNF4α⁺ cells in control and AAV-Cre mice at indicated time points after PH (n = 8 mice per group). l, m Representative images (l) and quantification (m) of Ki67⁺ HNF4α⁺ cells in control and AAV-Cre mice at 2 dpH (n = 8 mice per group). n, o Representative images (n) and quantification (o) of Ki67⁺ HNF4α⁺ cells in control and AAV-Cre mice at 4 dpH (n = 8 mice per group). All data are presented as the mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 versus control mice; ^###p < 0.001; ns, no significant difference (Student’s t-test for b, d, m, and o; two-way ANOVA test for e, g, and k; one-way ANOVA test for h and i).