Figure 4.

AA-induced tubular apoptosis in acute AAN in p53 WT mice at day 4 is blocked by a p53 inhibitor, pifithrin-α. (A) Representative TUNEL-stained sections from a normal p53 WT mouse treated with saline (i), a p53 WT mouse with acute AAN treated with DMSO (ii), and a p53 WT mouse with acute AAN treated with pifithrin-α (iii) and quantitative analysis of TUNEL⁺ cells (iv). Note that treatment with a p53 inhibitor, pifithrin-α (4.4 mg/kg per d), significantly attenuates the number of TUNEL⁺ apoptotic cells in acute AAN. (B) Western blot showing an increase in cleaved caspase-3 in p53 WT mice with acute AAN is inhibited by treatment with pifithrin-α. Data are means ± SEM for groups of six animals. ***P < 0.001 versus normal mice treated with saline; ^##P < 0.01, ^###P < 0.001 versus DMSO treatment in the p53 WT mice with acute AAN. Magnification, ×400.