Upregulation of TGFβ and activation of its downstreams in Col4a3–/– mice is attenuated by olmesartan. (a) Comparison of protein expression level TGFβ and its downstream determined by immunoblotting from the kidney of WT, Col4a3–/–, and Col4a3-/-+Olm mice (n = 4 mice/group). β-actin was used as the endogenous control. (b) Comparison of mRNA expression-level TGFβ1 determined by qPCR from the kidney WT, Col4a3–/–, and Col4a3-/-+Olm mice (n = 4 mice/group). β-actin was used as the endogenous control. (c) Representative images of immunohistochemical staining for TGFβ in the renal cortex of WT, Col4a3–/–, and Col4a3-/-+Olm mice. Scale bars, 50 μm. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01 versus WT mice; #
P < 0.05, ##
P < 0.01 versus Col4a3–/– mice by one-way ANOVA with Newman–Keuls multiple comparison test.