Paricalcitol Pretreatment Attenuates Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury via Prostaglandin E₂ Receptor EP4 Pathway

Figure 11

Paricalcitol attenuated apoptosis via an EP4-dependent pathway in mice kidney with IR injury. (a) TUNEL assay revealed that paricalcitol pretreatment significantly reduced the number of TUNEL-positive cells in mice kidney with IR injury, whereas the number of TUNEL-positive cells was increased by AH-23848 cotreatment. Original magnification ×400. (b) Semiquantitative immunoblot analysis indicated that the level of the proapoptotic marker Bax decreased and that of the antiapoptotic marker Bcl-2 increased in paricalcitol-treated mice kidney with IR injury compared with mice kidney with IR injury alone. AH-23848 cotreatment augmented the proapoptotic changes and abolished the antiapoptotic changes. versus sham group, versus IR group, and versus IR + Pari group; = 6–8 for each group. Bar = 50 μm.

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