In Vivo Suppression of Autophagy via Lentiviral shRNA Targeting Atg5 Improves Lupus-Like Syndrome

Figure 4

Lentiviral-shAtg5 administrated Trem-1^-/-.lpr mice exhibited improved glomerular immune complex deposition. After shLuc- or shAtg5-containing lentivirus was i.p. injected twice into Trem-1^-/-.lpr mice, the mice were euthanized at 38-40 weeks old, and their kidneys were excised. (a) We stained 7 μm thick kidney frozen sections with FITC-conjugated anti-C3 and anti-IgG antibodies. Images were taken at 200× magnification using a fluorescence microscope. (b) The intensity of fluorescence in each glomerulus was quantified using the ImageJ software (at least 25 glomeruli per mouse were analyzed). (c) The paraffin-embedded kidney sections were stained with PAS; the images were taken at 400× magnification. (d) The percentage and total intensity of the PAS-positive area in the individual glomerulus were analyzed by the ImageJ software (at least 20 glomeruli per mouse were analyzed).

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