Fig. 1

MKPC injections improve renal function and prolong survival. a Wild-type mice present normal renal morphology without any abnormalities (left) compared with mice receiving five-sixths nephrectomy that exhibit chronic kidney injury (right), as shown in representative Masson’s trichrome staining pictures of kidney sections from mice 17 weeks after five-sixths nephrectomy. Black arrows point to interstitial fibrosis, stars indicate tubular atrophy, and arrowheads represent glomerular sclerosis. Scale bar: 100 μm. b Serial BUN and serum creatinine levels measured in five-sixths nephrectomized mice (n = 6 in each group) that received saline (triangles) or MKPC (diamonds). MKPC administration weekly from weeks 5 to 10 after establishment of chronic kidney injury significantly improves renal function at 17 and 21 weeks, whereas saline-treated mice show no such effect. *P <0.02, MKPC-treated vs. saline-treated mice. c Five-sixths nephrectomized mice treated with MKPCs feature lower blood pressures, higher hematocrit, and larger kidney size at 17 weeks compared with mice treated with saline (n = 6 in each group). d MKPC treatment prolongs survival in mice with chronic kidney injury. Kaplan–Meier survival in the MKPC group vs. the saline group. The survival differences between these two groups were tested with the log-rank test that shows a statistical significant difference (P = 0.01). Mice given MKPCs survived significantly longer than PBS-treated mice. b, c Data presented as mean ± SD. Hct hematocrit, MBP mean blood pressure, MKPC mouse kidney progenitor-like cells