Fig. 3: Genetic smooth muscle deletion of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) decreases intestinal fibrosis in mice with chronic colitis. | Nature Communications

Fig. 3: Genetic smooth muscle deletion of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) decreases intestinal fibrosis in mice with chronic colitis.

From: Mineralocorticoid receptor activation contributes to intestinal fibrosis through neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin in preclinical models

Fig. 3

a–f Smooth muscle cell-specific inhibition of MR in female mice with dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced chronic colitis. Female C57BL/6 J mice underwent 3 cycles of 2% DSS in their drinking water for 7 days, followed by 14 days of regular water for the both first cycles and 7 days for the third cycle (DSS-WT, n = 8; DSS-sm22MR−/−(KO), n = 10). a Colonic relative mRNA levels encoding for Tgfb1, Mmp3, Mmp9, Timp1, Vim, Fn1 and Tnf (n = 8 per group; Two-sided unpaired t-test with Welch’s correction for Mmp3, Mmp9, Timp1, Fn1 and Tnf; Two-sided unpaired t-test without Welch’s correction for Tgfb1 and Vim). b Representative western blot and relative protein expression of colon COL1 (n = 8 for DSS-WT, n = 10 for DSS-sm22MR−/−; Two-sided unpaired t-test with Welch’s correction). c Sirius red colon sections, fibrosis score and collagen area fraction (n = 7 for DSS-WT, n = 9 for DSS-sm22MR−/−; Two-sided Mann-Whitney test for fibrosis score; Two-sided unpaired t-test without Welch’s correction for collagen area fraction). d Representative gelatin zymography and quantification of colon MMP-9 and MMP-2 activity (n = 7 for DSS-WT, n = 10 for DSS-sm22MR−/−; Two-sided Mann-Whitney test). e Colonic TGF-β1 level (n = 8 for DSS-WT, n = 10 for DSS-sm22MR−/−; Two-sided unpaired t-test without Welch’s correction). f Representative western blot and relative protein expression of phospho-SMAD 2/3 (p-SMAD2, p-SMAD3) and SMAD 2/3 (n = 8 for DSS-WT, n = 10 for DSS-sm22MR−/−; Two-sided Mann-Whitney test). Data are presented as mean values +/− SEM.

Back to article page