Fig. 5

Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell exosomes (hucMSC-Ex) prevent apoptosis and secretion of inflammatory cytokines by activating autophagy in vivo. a Representative images of renal histology (200×, scale bar = 50 μm). b The histomorphological score. c Immunohistochemical analysis of PCNA expression in kidney tissues (200×, scale bar = 50 μm). d Percentage of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)-positive cells. e TUNEL assay for apoptotic cells in rat renal tissues (200×, scale bar = 50 μm). f Percentage of apoptotic cells. g The expression of LC3B, BCL-2, Bax, IL1-β, and GAPDH proteins in the cisplatin-induced rat model were measured by Western blot. The serum inflammatory cytokines (h) tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), (i) interleukin-1β (IL1-β), and (j) interleukin-6 (IL6) were measured via Luminex assay. Data are expressed as mean ± SD. *P < 0.05, n = 6. Rats were divided into six groups as follows: 1) control; 2) phosphate-buffered saline (PBS); 3) hucMSC-Ex; 4) hucMSC-Ex + 3-methyladenine (3MA); 5) 3MA; and 6) rapamycin (Rapa)