Fig. 7

Effect of decreasing IL-6 production. a IL-6 signals through the JAK-STAT signaling pathway to prime hepatocytes for replication. b Reduced IL-6 production causes delayed regeneration, with delays increasing as regeneration progresses. c A slight decrease in IL-6 production (25 % reduction in peak levels) amplifies as the signal propagates through the JAK-STAT cascade. Ultimately, this slight IL-6 decrease results in reduced STAT-3 phosphorylation (75 % reduction in peak) and reduced priming (~10 % reduction at peak). This reduced priming leads to delayed recovery and a slightly reduced overall mass recovery (~5 %)