FIG. 5.

Parenchymal fibrosis. (A) shows the semi-quantitative analysis of CTGF and αSMA tissular expression (score 0 to 3). We observe lower αSMA parenchymal expression in MSC compared with NT at 24 weeks, and also lower CTGF tubular and glomerular expression when compared with both NT and BMC groups (^aP<0.05 vs. NT group at the same time point, ^bP<0.05 vs. BMC group at the same time point). (B) depicts representative histological slides from all groups stained for αSMA and CTGF (400 magnification). CTGF, connective tissue growth factor. αSMA, alpha-smooth muscle actin.