Figure 4

Mesenchymal stem cell administration prevents tubular injury and attenuates kidney peritubular capillary loss, but conditioned medium has no effect. (a) Representative light microscopy images of hematoxylin and eosin-stained kidney sections on day 3 in the mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) group, vehicle group, conditioned medium (CM) group or Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) group. White arrow, cell nuclei defluxion; black arrow, cell nuclei dissolution and absorption; yellow arrow, tubular atrophy; green arrow, cellular debris and proteinuria cast. (A) Tubular injury index on days 3, 5 and 7 for different groups. (b) Immunofluorescent images of CD31-labeled peritubular capillaries on day 7 after ischemia–reperfusion injury in mice that received MSCs, vehicle, CM or DMEM. (A) Peritubular capillary loss index for mice in the four groups at different time points. Data presented as mean ± standard deviation. *P < 0.05 versus the vehicle group, ^#P < 0.01 versus the vehicle group (bars, 250 μm).