FIGURE 2.

Renoprotection effect of microcystin (MC)-RR in different doses on unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) mice. The regimen of MC-RR was used in UUO mice. Twenty-five mice were divided into five groups, Sham, UUO, and UUO mice with treatment of MC-RR in three different doses (5, 10, and 20 μg/kg/day), each group with 5 mice. (A,B) Kidney tissue sections were employed for H&E and Masson staining (scale bar: 40 μm). (C) Fibrosis positive area in Masson staining were assessed by pathologist blind to this study (n = 5). (D,E) Protein level of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), fibronectin, and collagen I were measured in the renal tissues of UUO mice by western blot. (F,G) Protein expression of TGF-β, p-Smad3, and Smad3 in kidney tissue was measured by western blot. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 determined by one-way ANOVA with S–N–K post hoc analysis.