QUAKING (QKI) is expressed in infiltrating macrophages upon unilateral urethral obstruction. (A) Immunostaining of mouse kidney cryosections for QKI-5 (green, upper panels), QKI-6 (green, middle panels) and QKI-7 (green, lower panels). Endothelial cells are stained using the MECA-32 antibody in red. Nuclei are stained blue using DAPI. (B) Western blot analysis using whole kidney lysates prepared from (n = 3) healthy contralateral kidneys (healthy kidneys) and unilateral urethral obstruction (UUO) kidneys were performed using anti-QKI-5, -QKI-6, -QKI-7 and -tubulin antibodies. (C) Whole kidney lysates of either contralateral kidneys (CLK) or UUO kidneys were assessed for mRNA levels of fibrosis markers (α-SMA, COL1A1) and macrophage markers (CD115, F4/80). (D) Whole kidney lysates were assessed for QKI mRNA levels using qRT-PCR in healthy contralateral kidneys (CLK) as compared to fibrotic kidneys 10 days after UUO. (E) Immunostaining for Pan-QKI (green) and F4/80 (macrophage marker in red) on cryosections of fibrotic kidneys 10 days after UUO. * p ≤ 0.05 by Students’ t-test, error bars represent the standard error of the mean (SEM).