FIG. 3.

Conventional histology. NT animals showed the worst outcome when pathological histology was analyzed (A). Not only IFTA degree in MSC animals was lower compared with NT animals, but also BMC animals show the worst histological preservation (P<0.003 vs. NT, P<0.05 vs. BMC). (B) and (C) are representative pictures of the NT kidney at 24 weeks of PAS and Masson staining, respectively. (D) and (E) show better-preserved and also less fibrotic MSC kidneys at 24 weeks with the same staining. In (F), we have specified the histological parameters evaluated by a pathologist at 12 and at 24 weeks and immunohistochemical-staining quantification of lymphocytic (CD3) and macrophagic (ED1) infiltrates (mean positive cells/field viewed±SEM) as well as semi-quantitative evaluation of IDO expression (score 0 to 3), (^aP<0.05 vs. NT group at the same time point, ^bP<0.05 vs. BMC group at the same time point, ^cP<0.05 vs. same group at 12 weeks). IDO, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase; IFTA, interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy.