Fig. 3

Assessment of pathologic findings obtained at 6 h, 24 h, 72 h and 7 days after treatment in different groups and the semi-quantitative analysis of HSP70 (A-B), Ki-67 (C-D) and SMA (E-F). The expression of HSP70 (green) was increased after RFA and reached the peak at 24 h in the direct RFA group, and was significantly higher than that in the indirect RFA group at 24 h. The expression of Ki-67 (green) increased after RFA and reached the peak at 72 h in both direct RFA and indirect RFA groups. The expression of SMA (red) was higher in the direct RFA group than the indirect RFA group after RFA and reached its peak at 6 h in the direct RFA group. The bar graph showed the percentage of positive cells among the direct RFA group (blue), indirect RFA group (red) and control group (grey) at different time points after RFA. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. The representative microphotographs were under 200 × magnification (A, C, E)