Research Article

Bone Morphogenetic Proteins 2/4 Are Upregulated during the Early Development of Vascular Calcification in Chronic Kidney Disease

Figure 7

The BMP-2, BMP-4, BMPR-IA, and MGP expression levels in the aorta by immunohistochemical analysis. BMP-2 (a), BMPR-IA (b), and MGP (c) proteins were barely expressed, and BMP-4 (d) was weakly expressed in the normal aorta. Strong staining of BMP-2, BMP-4, BMPR-IA, and MGP proteins was observed in the vascular smooth muscle layer (tunica media) of the aorta at 4, 6, and 8 weeks after chronic kidney disease (CKD) model induction. Magnification, ×200. versus the normal control (Nor) group at the same time point. Intergroup comparison was made: for BMP-2, BMPR-IA, and MGP, versus 2 weeks and versus 4 weeks; for BMP-4, versus 2 weeks.
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