Figure 6.

Proximal tubule-specific cyclophilin D knockout (PT-CypD KO) mitigates unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO)-induced kidney fibrosis. Wild-type (WT) control and PT-CypD KO (PT-KO) mice were subjected to UUO or sham operation for 7 days. A: paraffin-embedded kidney sections were used to carry out Sirius red stain or immunohistochemistry for evaluating Sirius red-, collagen type IV, and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)-positive areas (n = 5 or 6). Hematoxylin stain (blue color) was used for counterstaining. B−D: Sirius red (red color)-, collagen type IV (brown color)-, and α-SMA (brown color)-positive areas were counted from 5 randomly chosen fields per kidney (n = 5 or 6). Expression levels were evaluated using ImageJ software. E: collagen type I-α₁ (Col1a1), α-SMA (Acta2), connective tissue growth factor (Ctgf), and transforming growth factor-β (Tgf-β) mRNA levels were evaluated using quantitative RT-PCR and calculated using a formula described in materials and methods (n = 5 or 6). Scale bars = 50 µm. Data are expressed as means ± SD. *P < 0.05 vs. sham; #P < 0.05 vs. WT UUO.