Fig. 2
Anti-fibrotic role of rapamycin in LPS induced AKI. (A) Immunohistochemistry for collagen III showed increased collagen III deposition in endotoxemic mice (LPS 24 h and 48 h) at both interstitial and glomerular level (zoomed images). Notably, the duration of endotoxemia correlated with greater collagen III accumulation, indicative of interstitial fibrosis. Rapamycin pre-treatment (RAPA/LPS) significantly decreased collagen deposits (zoomed images). Similarly, rapamycin post-treatment (LPS/RAPA) also decreased collagen accumulation, although collagen III deposition remained detectable (zoomed images). (B) Quantitative analysis was performed as described in the Methods section. The mean intensity of strong positive (ISP) relative to the analyzed area was measured for collagen III immunohistochemistry. (Sham group n = 5; LPS 24 h group n = 8; LPS 48 h group n = 5; RAPA/LPS n = 8; LPS/RAPA n = 5). Error bars indicate standard deviation. ****p < 0.0001 vs. Sham; ££££p < 0.0001 vs. LPS 24 h; ####p < 0.0001 vs. LPS 48 h.
