Fig. 3.

Macrophage depletion at the onset of proteinuria suppresses glomerular inflammation. Liposomal clodronate or PBS was injected i.v. at the onset of proteinuria (day 0) in poly (I:C)-treated mice. Injections were repeated after 3, 7, and 11 days of proteinuria. Untreated nonproteinuric, poly (I:C)-treated proteinuric, and poly (I:C) and liposomal clodronate treated proteinuric NZB/W mice, were analyzed after 14 days of proteinuria. (A) FACS analysis of whole kidney cells for expression of the myeloid/macrophage cell markers CD11b and GR1. Representative dot plots from individual mice are shown. Percentages represent means ± SD (n = 4–8 mice per group). Paraffin-embedded kidney sections, from the same kidneys analyzed by FACS, stained with PAS. (B) Glomerular and interstitial histological scores. Each symbol indicates an individual mouse. Results were pooled from three independent experiments (n = 10–12 mice per group). **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001. (C) Kidney cortex mRNA was analyzed by real-time PCR for ISG15 and STAT1; values are relative to expression of the gene encoding GAPDH (n = 4–6 mice per group). *, P < 0.05.