Skip to main content
Fig. 6 | Stem Cell Research & Therapy

Fig. 6

From: Hypoxic mesenchymal stem cells ameliorate acute kidney ischemia-reperfusion injury via enhancing renal tubular autophagy

Fig. 6

Hypoxic rat mesenchymal stem cells (HMSCs) upregulated autophagy in the tubular epithelial cells of the ischemia-reperfusion (I/R)-injured rat kidneys. a, b Representative immunohistochemical photomicrographs showed that intra-renal arterial (IA) administration of HMSCs upregulated autophagy-related protein expression including LC3B, Atg5, and Beclin 1 but downregulated the autophagy adaptor protein p62 expression in the renal tubular epithelial cells of I/R-injured rat kidneys. IP, intraperitoneal administration; CM, 100-fold concentrated conditioned medium. Scale = 100 μm. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc comparison, n = 6 per group. c, d Western blot analyses showed that the I/R injury markedly increased the autophagy adaptor protein p62 expression, which was suppressed in the I/R+IA-HMSC, I/R+IP-HMSC, and I/R+HMSC-CM groups. The levels of LC3B, Atg5, and Beclin 1 were mildly increased in the I/R+PBS group but markedly increased in the I/R+HMSC group. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc comparison. ns, nonsignificant. n = 6 per group

Back to article page