Fig. 3.
Aqp2Cre; β1flox/flox mice develop severe injury following unilateral ureteric obstruction. (A) Papillae of 6-week-old Aqp2Cre; β1flox/flox and β1flox/flox mice were isolated and immunoblotted for β1 integrin. (B-G) Microscopy of PAS-stained kidney slides showed no differences in the morphology of Aqp2Cre; β1flox/flox and β1flox/flox at low (40×) (B,C) or high (100×) (D-G) power of either the cortex (D,E) or medulla (F,G). (H-K) Kidneys of 6-week-old Aqp2Cre; β1flox/flox mice show more severe tubular dilatation and injury 5 days after unilateral ureteric obstruction when compared with the β1flox/flox mice (H,I 100× and J,K 200×). (L,M) More intense and abundant Trichrome Blue staining was evident in 5 day injured Aqp2Cre; β1flox/flox than β1flox/flox mice. (N-P) Increased TUNEL staining was evident in 5 day injured Aqp2Cre; β1flox/flox compared to β1flox/flox mice. Insets emphasize the degree of apoptosis in the kidneys. The degree of apoptosis was quantified and expressed as the mean of apoptotic cells/microscopic field ± s.d. (10 fields of 10 kidneys from either genotype were analyzed). Differences between HoxB7Cre;β1flox/flox and β1flox/flox mice (*) were significant, with P<0.01. (Q) Immunoblots with an antibody directed against caspase-3 were performed on medullas of 5 day injured Aqp2Cre; β1flox/flox and β1flox/flox. This is an immunoblot of a pool of five kidneys from each genotype.