Figure 4.

Histopathological renal alterations in 16-week-old mice. (a) Representative overview pictures of hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining from the left and right kidneys of wild-type (wt) and homozygous (hom) Foxd2 (forkhead box D2) knockout (KO) mice. Note the normal kidney morphology observed in the wt animal compared with bilateral mild renal pelvis dilation (marked with an asterisk) in the hom KO mouse. Note the reduced size of the renal papilla (marked in red) and the cortex, which is clearly narrowed (yellow). (b) H&E stains show a higher magnification of the renal papilla. (c) Immunohistochemistry (IHC) aquaporin-2 clearly shows a reduction in diameter of the collecting ducts in the mutant mouse. (d–h) Plasma clinical chemistry analyses of parameters frequently altered in the case of renal dysfunction, including plasma levels of (d–f) electrolytes, (g) creatinine, (h) and urea. Significance according to the Mann-Whitney test: ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗∗P < 0.001. Mut., mutant; NS, not significant. To optimize viewing of this image, please see the online version of this article at www.kidney-international.org.