Fig. 4

Renal histological changes and gene and protein expressions of fibrotic and angiogenic markers. a Representative micrographs of hematoxylin-eosin and Masson’s trichrome demonstrate histological changes in the 7 days post-surgery groups. Bar = 20 μm. b, c Quantification of renal interstitium areas in each group on both 3 and 7 days post-surgery (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001). d–h TGF-β1, a-SMA, and VEGF expression were confirmed after GDNF-AMSC treatment. Representative western blot (d) and quantitative data for TGF-β1 (e), a-SMA (g), and VEGF (h) are presented, and TGF-β1 mRNA levels were shown by real-time PCR (f) (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001)