Generation and characterization of liver-specific Lcn2 knockout mice. A: Genotyping of mouse littermates distinguishes between wild-type (WT) mice lacking Cre expression, mice heterozygous for the Lcn2-floxed allele (Het), and lipocalin 2 (Lcn2) knockout (KO) mice homozygous for the Lcn2-floxed allele and positive for Cre expression. B: Quantitative RT-PCR for Lcn2 confirms decreased Ln2 expression in Lcn2 KO mouse livers compared with WT livers. C: Liver weight–to–body weight (LW/BW) ratios of control and liver-specific Lcn2 KO mice at baseline. Liver function tests, including serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (D), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (E), and total serum bilirubin (BR) (F), revealed no difference between WT and Lcn2 KO mice. G: Representative hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stains of WT and Lcn2 KO mice. Original magnification, ×100 (G). AU, arbitrary units.