Figure 3.

Morphine treatment exacerbates renal pathology in BERK mice. Kidney sections from BERK mice treated with PBS or MS for 6 weeks. (A and C) Glomeruli stained with PAS to show the basement membrane. Note that the tubules in PBS-treated mice are lined with intact epithelium and a brush border. In morphine-treated mice (C), the glomerulus is much larger than that in PBS-treated and shows parietal cell metaplasia (green arrow); tubules show basement membrane without epithelial cells (left yellow arrow) or epithelial cells sloughing off of the basement membrane (right yellow arrow) with a proteinaceous deposit (yellow *). Parietal epithelial cell metaplasia can be seen more prominently at the higher magnification in (E) (green arrow). In (D), the H&E-stained images show prominent vascular congestion (black arrows), early tubular epithelial cell necrosis (left yellow arrow), loss of epithelial cells and brush border (right yellow arrow), and proteinaceous deposits (turquoise arrow).

Notes: Magnification ×1000 (A, C, and E) and ×400 (B and D); scale bar, 50 μM.

Abbreviations: H&E, hematoxylin and eosin; MS, morphine sulfate; PAS, periodic acid-Schiff; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline.