Fig. 2
Quantitative assessment of the kidney injury score and fibrotic area in kidney parenchyma by day 60 after DKD induction. A–D Microscopic examination (200x; H&E stain) demonstrating significantly higher loss of brush border in renal tubules (yellow arrows), tubular necrosis (green arrows), tubular dilatation (red asterisk), protein cast formation (black asterisk) and dilatation of Bowman’s capsule (blue arrows) in DKD group than in other groups. E Analytical result of kidney injury score, * versus other groups with different symbols (†, ‡, §), p < 0.0001. F–I Demonstrating the microscopic finding [(200x) for identification of fibrotic area (blue color) (red dotted lines)]. J Analytical result of fibrotic area, * versus other groups with different symbols (†, ‡, §), p < 0.0001. All statistical analyses were performed by one-way ANOVA, followed by Bonferroni multiple comparison post hoc test (n = 6 for each group). Symbols (*, †, ‡, §) indicate significance (at 0.05 level). SC = sham-operated control; DKD = diabetic kidney disease; HUCDMSCLow = human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell of lower dose (2.1 × 105 cells); HUCDMSCHigh = human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell of higher dose (6.3 × 105 cells)