Figure 5.

Targeted deletion of PUMA attenuated PHG by inhibiting apoptosis. (a) Genotyping of mice was performed by using PUMA allele-specific primers to analyze genomic DNA from tail snips (upper panel). P, positive control (PUMA^+/+); N, negative control-no template; WT, wild-type (PUMA^+/+); KO, knockout (PUMA^–/–). Portal hypertension induced significant congestive splenomegaly after PVL in both PUMA-WT and KO mice (lower panel). (b) Gastric mucosal injury was significantly alleviated in PUMA-KO mice after PVL compared with PUMA-WT mice (H&E staining, × 200). (c) Gastric mucosal apoptosis (green) was significantly depressed in PUMA-KO mice after PVL compared with PUMA-WT mice (TUNEL staining, × 200). Cell nuclei (blue) were counterstained by DAPI. (d) The apoptotic index was calculated by counting a minimum of 20 randomly selected fields following TUNEL staining. The index was obtained by dividing the TUNEL-positive cells by the total number of cells. The values are expressed as the means±S.D. (n=3 in each group). *P<0.01 versus SO mice, ^#P<0.05 versus PUMA-WT mice