Reviewer's report
Title:The exact time of collagen peak in bile duct ligated rat model
Version: 4Date:27 January 2011
Reviewer: Martin Hennenberg
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript has been improved considerably.
However, some points have not been addressed and still need to be done:
Table 1:
Please replace the commas by dots.
The assignment of figures to legends needs to be urgently corrected. E.g., there
are legends for Fig. 1 to Fig. 6, but Figure 1-7 in total.
In Fig. 5-7, the authors should prefer bar diagrams instead of showing time
courses.
The discussion has been improved substantially, in particular the new conclusion
section is very fine.
However, the authors should urgently insert brief comments to following two
points:
1. The study focussed on fibrosis. As animals were sacrificed after 28, any
cirrhosis should not be expected anyway. Cirrhosis in BDL rats occurs earliest
4-6 weeks after ligation.
2. Although markers of fibrosis and liver damage declined after the 3-week peak,
they still remained elevated 4 weeks after ligation, compared to control groups.
Thus, this animal model may in fact be suitable to study fibrosis and experimental
therapies, provided that correct untreated control groups are included.
Reviewer's report
Title:The exact time of collagen peak in bile duct ligated rat model
Version: 4Date:27 January 2011
Reviewer: Martin Hennenberg
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript has been improved considerably.
However, some points have not been addressed and still need to be done:
Table 1:
Please replace the commas by dots.
The assignment of figures to legends needs to be urgently corrected. E.g., there
are legends for Fig. 1 to Fig. 6, but Figure 1-7 in total.
In Fig. 5-7, the authors should prefer bar diagrams instead of showing time
courses.
The discussion has been improved substantially, in particular the new conclusion
section is very fine.
However, the authors should urgently insert brief comments to following two
points:
1. The study focussed on fibrosis. As animals were sacrificed after 28, any
cirrhosis should not be expected anyway. Cirrhosis in BDL rats occurs earliest
4-6 weeks after ligation.
2. Although markers of fibrosis and liver damage declined after the 3-week peak,
they still remained elevated 4 weeks after ligation, compared to control groups.
Thus, this animal model may in fact be suitable to study fibrosis and experimental
therapies, provided that correct untreated control groups are included.
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:The exact time of collagen peak in bile duct ligated rat model
Version: 4Date:27 January 2011
Reviewer: Martin Hennenberg
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript has been improved considerably.
However, some points have not been addressed and still need to be done:
Table 1:
Please replace the commas by dots.
The assignment of figures to legends needs to be urgently corrected. E.g., there
are legends for Fig. 1 to Fig. 6, but Figure 1-7 in total.
In Fig. 5-7, the authors should prefer bar diagrams instead of showing time
courses.
The discussion has been improved substantially, in particular the new conclusion
section is very fine.
However, the authors should urgently insert brief comments to following two
points:
1. The study focussed on fibrosis. As animals were sacrificed after 28, any
cirrhosis should not be expected anyway. Cirrhosis in BDL rats occurs earliest
4-6 weeks after ligation.
2. Although markers of fibrosis and liver damage declined after the 3-week peak,
they still remained elevated 4 weeks after ligation, compared to control groups.
Thus, this animal model may in fact be suitable to study fibrosis and experimental
therapies, provided that correct untreated control groups are included.
assistant