Fig. 2

Renal histology in I/R injury. Kidney tissues from C57BL/6J mice with 22 min of bilateral renal ischemia or sham operation were collected on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 14, and 28 days and stained with H&E for histological examination. During the first 3 days of injury, kidney tissues showed severe tubular dilatation, loss of brush border, and sloughed debris in tubular lumen space. On day 4, the newly generated tubular cells increased rapidly. Nine days after I/R injury, the structure of damaged tissues showed normal histological architecture in cortex, medulla, and papilla (arrows, on day 4 and 6, indicate the special niche-like structure of newly restored tubular cells; magnification × 400). I/R ischemia/reperfusion, H&E hematoxylin and eosin