Figure 4.

Effects of renal telocytes (TCs) on the inflammatory response and the levels of growth factors. Ischaemia–reperfusion injury (IRI) induced an up-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines that did not differ between any of the animal groups (A). The NF-κB signalling pathway was activated after IRI (B), which contributed to the pro-inflammatory response. The mRNA levels of HGF, EGF, PDGF and IGF-1 were significantly increased in the TC-injected group compared with the renal fibroblast–injected group and the PBS-injected group (C). *Statistically significant difference compared with the PBS-injected group; #statistically significant difference between the TC-injected group and the FIB-injected group. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.