Figure 5
From: Profibrotic epithelial phenotype: a central role for MRTF and TAZ
The impact of MRTF inhibition on whole kidney expression of various fibrogenic cytokines during UUO. (a–e) Renal TGFβ1 expression. Whole kidney extracts were prepared from sham, 3-day UUO and CCG 1423-treated UUO mice as in Fig. 4, and TGFβ mRNA (a) and protein (b,c) levels were determined by qPCR (mean ± S.D., n = 5/per group) (a) and western blotting (b) followed by densitometry (c), respectively. TGFβ1 protein expression was normalized to tubulin (Tub) in the same samples. The representative blot shows the result from 3 animals from each group. (Quantitation, n = 4–6/group). Note that two bands were visualized, likely corresponding to pro- and mature forms of TGFβ; both bands were quantified by densitometry. To assess localization, kidney sections were stained for TGFβ (d) and the staining intensities were quantified by determining the pixel percentage above background as in Fig. 4. Bar: 200 μm. The mRNA levels for other fibrogenic cytokines, namely CTGF (f), PDGF (g) and IHH (h) were determined from the same samples by qPCR (mean ± S.D., n = 3–5/per group). Note that UUO caused a significant increase in the expression of all investigated cytokines, of which the increases in TGFβ1 and CTGF expression were significantly attenuated by MRTF inhibition.
