Figure 7. Reduced kidney apoptosis in renal proximal tubule TLR9 deficient mice after ischemic AKI.

Representative images of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase biotin-dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining indicative of renal tubular apoptosis (A) and counts of TUNEL positive kidney cells (B, N=5) from TLR9^fl/fl wild type mice and renal proximal tubule TLR9 null mice subjected to sham-surgery or to 30 min renal ischemia and 24 hr reperfusion (magnification 200X). We also detected caspase 3 and caspase 8 activation by measuring cleaved caspase 3 and caspase 8 in the kidney lysates from sham-operated mice and mice subjected to renal IR injury (C). Representative images of TUNEL staining (D) and counts of TUNEL positive kidney cells (E, N=5) from B6 mice and global TLR9KO mice subjected to sham-surgery or to 30 min renal ischemia and 24 hr reperfusion (magnification 200X). For statistical analysis, the one-way ANOVA plus Tukey’s post hoc multiple comparison test were used to detect significant changes. *P<0.05 vs. TLR9^fl/fl mice subjected to sham surgery. #P<0.05 vs. TLR9^fl/fl mice subjected to renal IR. Error bars represent 1 SEM.