Figure 5.

MiR‐21‐5p alleviated renoprotective effects of melatonin and inhibited up‐regulation of Spry1 and PTEN induced by melatonin in the kidney tissues of unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) mice. A, Renal tubular injury was assessed by haematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining (×200). Scale bar = 50 µm. B, The deposition of collagen in kidney tissues of UUO rats was determined by Masson's trichrome staining (×200). Blue (aniline blue) represents collagen fibres; red (acid fuchsin) represents muscle fibres. Scale bar = 50 µm. C and D, The statistical analyses of tubulointerstitial damage scores and the degrees of interstitial collagen deposition in different groups. E, RT‐PCR analysis of the expression of miR‐21‐5p in kidneys of mice in different group. F, Western blot analysis of the expression of PTEN and Spry1 in different groups. Bars represent means ± standard deviation (SD) (n = 8). *P < .01 vs the Sham group; #P < .05, §P < .01 vs the UUO group; ΔP < 0.05, £P < .01 vs the UUO + Mel + agomir group; ΩP < 0.05, ǂP < 0.01 vs the UUO + Mel group. Mel, melatonin; NC, control agomir