Fig. 2.
Assessment of hepatic inflammation. (A and B) Representative liver sections obtained from Ren2 rats stained with H&E and showed progressive increase in clusters of inflammatory cell infiltrates in Ren2 rats (A, 9 weeks; B, 12 weeks; arrows). (C and D) Representative liver sections obtained from Ren2 rats at 12 weeks of age demonstrating neutrophils (C, arrow) and CD3+ T lymphocytes (D, green). (E and F) Representative immunostaining microphotographs showed increased TNF-α expression in 12-week Ren2 liver (D, purple, arrows) compared with the SD control (C). (G) The Bar graph showed hepatic TNF-α mRNA expression standardized to internal control (GAPDH) expression in 12-week-old Ren2 and SD rats. (H) Representative immunoblot analyses for C-reactive protein (CRP) with bars representing band densitometry in livers obtained from 9- and 12-week-old Ren2 and SD rats. Magnification: A and B, 400×; C, 1000×; D, 600×; E and F, 100×. The results are means ± SEM for 4–5 rats for each group, *p < 0.05, Ren2 vs. SD controls.