Fig. 2

Atg5 deficiency in proximal tubules suppresses renal interstitial fibrosis after I/R injury. Kidneys were collected from WT and PT- atg5 KO mice after sham surgery or 4 weeks after bilateral renal ischemia/reperfusion. A Representative α-SMA (red, left), VIMENTIN (red, middle), and PDGFR-β (red, right) immunofluorescence staining images of kidney sections. The nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). LTL was used to label proximal tubules (green). Scale bars, 20 μm. B–D Quantitative analysis of α-SMA, VIMENTIN, and PDGFR-β-positive area (n = 6). E, F The kidney sections were immunostained with antibody against FN1. The FN1-positive areas were quantified to view areas (n = 6). Scale bars, 50 μm. G mRNA levels of collagen I in kidney tissues, as detected by qPCR (n = 3). The values are expressed as mean ± SD. * represents a significant difference from the sham group; # represents a significant difference from the relevant wild-type group. # or * P < 0.05, ## or ** P < 0.01, ### or *** P < 0.001, #### or **** P < 0.0001