Fig. 3: P2X7 receptor gene knockout protected from renal ischemic-reperfusion injury.

A–D Male C57BL/6 wild-type mice and P2X7 receptor (−/−) counterparts were subjected to renal ischemic-reperfusion or sham operation (n = 5 per group). A The concentrations of serum creatinine. B Periodic acid Schiff staining of kidney sections. C Representative immunofluorescent staining for Ly6G (green) merged with DAPI. D The levels of IL-6 and MCP-1 mRNA by real-time polymerase chain reaction. E The survival analysis for renal ischemic-reperfusion injury between wildtype and P2X7 receptor (−/−) mice (n = 10 mice each group). F–H We constructed radiation-induced bone marrow chimeras between P2X7 receptor (−/−) and P2X7 receptor (+/+) mice. The mice were grouped into the wild-type bone marrow to wild-type recipient (WT–WT), the wild-type bone marrow to P2X7 receptor (−/−) recipient (WT–P2X7R (−/−)), and the P2X7 receptor (−/−) bone marrow to wild-type recipient (P2X7R (−/−)-WT) (n = 4 per group), and then were subjected to renal ischemic-reperfusion injury or sham operation. F The concentrations of serum creatinine were measured. G Representative Periodic acid Schiff staining of kidney sections. H Representative immunoblots of whole-kidney lysate for the expression of IL-1β p17 and NLRP3 proteins. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001.