FIG. 2.

Renal fibrosis is enhanced in diabetic Smad7 KO mice. A–E: Collagen I (Col I) expression. F–K: Collagen IV (Col IV) expression. Results show that when compared with the WT mice, Smad7 KO mice significantly enhance renal collagen I and IV expression as demonstrated by Western blot analysis (A, B, F, and G), immunohistochemistry (IHC; C and I) and quantitative analysis in glomeruli (J) and tubulointerstitium (D and K), and real-time PCR at the mRNA level (E and H). Data represent mean ± SE for groups of eight animals. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 vs. normal; #P < 0.05, ##P < 0.01, ###P < 0.001 vs. WT DM mice. Magnification ×400 (A and F). (A high-quality color representation of this figure is available in the online issue.)