Fig. 5
Time courses of circulating levels of blood urine nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine and ratio of urine protein to urine creatinine and kidney injury score by day 42 after CKD induction. A Circulating level of creatinine at day 0, p > 0.5. B Circulating level of BUN, at day 0, p > 0.5. C Ratio of urine protein to urine creatinine (RUP/C) at day 0, p > 0.5. D Circulating level of creatinine at day 14, * versus †, p < 0.001. E Circulating level of BUN, at day 14, p < 0.001. F Ratio of RUP/C at day 14, * versus †, p < 0.001. G Circulating level of creatinine at day 28, * versus †, p < 0.0001. H Circulating level of BUN, at day 28, p < 0.0001. I Ratio of RUP/C at day 28, * versus †, p < 0.001. J–N) Light microscopic findings (400×; H&E stain) showing 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 CKD groups with and without treatment than in SC group. G Analytical result of kidney injury score, * versus †, p < 0.0001. n = 8 in each group. SC = sham-operated control; CKD = chronic kidney disease; CLI = critical limb ischemia; EPCs = endothelial progenitor cells; PrPcOE-EPCs = overexpression of cellular prion protein in EPCs; and siPrnp-EPCs = knockdown of cellular prion protein in EPCs