Figure 2.

Intraperitoneal injection of IS induces severe LVH in kl/+ mice. (A) The serum IS level was significantly increased in mice intraperitoneally injected with IS (100 mg/kg per day) for 8 weeks. (B) The expression of Klotho in the kidney was significantly reduced after IS treatment, which was revealed by Western blotting (upper panel; 130-kD band). (C) An obvious increase of collagen deposition was observed in the kidneys in IS-injected mice, which was revealed by Masson staining. The fibrotic area (blue area) was quantified. Scale bar, 50 μm. (D) The BUN and serum creatinine were measured in IS-injected and vehicle-treated mice. Data are means±SEMs. **P<0.01, ***P<0.001 versus vehicle (n=8 mice). (E) The serum IS level was significantly elevated in kl/+ mice compared with WT mice. ***P<0.001 (n=8 mice). (F) The relative heart weight was markedly increased in IS-treated WT and kl/+ mice. (G) Representative gross pathology of midchamber sections of the heart (hematoxylin-eosin staining) and sections from the left ventricular midchamber free wall (hematoxylin-eosin staining) in WT and kl/+ mice treated with or without IS for 8 weeks. Scale bar, 200 μm in upper panel; 50 μm in lower panel. (H and I) The LVH was present in WT and kl/+ mice injected with IS, which was determined by echocardiography. GAPDH, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; LV, left ventricular. *P<0.05; **P<0.01; ***P<0.001 versus WT+vehicle. ^#P<0.05; ^##P<0.01; ^###P<0.001 (n=5–8 mice).