2.3 Bile duct ligation (BDL) surgery in mice
Forty mice were randomly assigned into five groups (sham, BDL‐NS, and
BDL‐PB groups) followed by a randomization procedure
(http://www.randomizer.org/, Research Randomizer, RRID: SCR_008563),
with eight animals per group. Thirty-two mice were prepared for BDL
surgery. After the mice were anaesthetized with isoflurane, the mice
abdomen was opened. The choledochal duct was isolated and ligated using
surgical sutures. Twenty‐four hours after surgery, animals subjected to
BDL were randomly divided into three groups and received
intraperitoneal
injection daily with 1, 2.5, 5mg/kg PB solution (BDL‐PB group) for 14
days. A sham operation was also performed on eight mice (sham group) to
create a healthy control group. A normal 2%DMSO solution (2%DMSO
group) was intraperitoneal injection daily on eight mice to create a
vehicle group. After an overnight fast, blood samples were collected
from the abdominal aorta and the animals were killed using isoflurane.
Mice liver maximum lobule was collected. Some liver tissue samples were
fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde for subsequent histological examination
and others were stored at −80°C for subsequent analyses.