Inhibitory Effects of Rhein on Renal Interstitial Fibrosis via the SHH-Gli1 Signal Pathway

Figure 1

Rhein attenuated renal histological damage. Pathological changes in the renal tissues were analyzed using renal appearance, hematoxylin-eosin (HE, ×200), periodic acid-Schiff (PAS, ×200) staining, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM, ×10,000). The pathological manifestations of renal fibrosis include renal tubular dilatation with atrophy (green arrow), renal tubular epithelial cell edema (blue arrow), lymphocyte proliferation and infiltration (yellow arrow), mesangial area expansion (orange arrow), thickening of the basement membrane (red arrow), and loss of foot process fusion (brown arrow).