ACTA2 and Hepatic fibrosis: Analysis of liver fibrotic gene expression revealed an up-regulation of human alpha-smooth muscle actin (ACTA2), which corroborates our IHC staining of α-SMA (Figure 1F), and alpha-1 type I collagen (COL1A1) in HFHC-fed mice, congruous with increased liver fibrosis, although transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFB1), and tissue metallopeptidase inhibitor 1 (TIMP1) were unchanged (Figure 2B).