Fig. 5. Effect of cystamine administration in M2 macrophage polarization and renal fibrosis.

Mice were conducted to UUO surgery and orally administrated with cystamine (1.86 mg/kg/day). Renal CD45-positive cells were classified by CD206 (A) and colored with magenta in the dot plots divided into the CD11b⁺ F4/80^low (R1) and CD11b⁺ F4/80^hi (R2) groups (B). The relative cell counts of R1 and R2 groups were indicated (C). These cells also divided into CD11b⁺ Ly6C^hi (R3), CD11b⁺ Ly6C^int (R4), and CD11b⁺ Ly6C^low (R5) groups (D). The relative cell counts of R4 and R5 groups gated by F4/80^hi and CD206⁺ were indicated (E). The myofibroblasts and collagen fibers in kidney sections were detected by immunofluorescence staining using anti-α-SMA antibody (F) and picrosirius red staining (G), respectively, and the percentages of their positive area are presented in the graph on the right. The nuclei were counterstained with DAPI. Scale bars = 100 μm. Representative results in at least three independent samples were shown. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 by one-way ANOVA with post hoc Tukey’s multiple comparisons test.