Fig. 4

Evaluation of the renal fibrosis area. a, c, and e show representative Masson’s trichrome staining in the control, CsA, and CsA + DHMEQ groups, respectively. a, c, and e are magnified 20×. The areas highlighted in the small boxes in the left panels (a, c, e) are shown in the right panels (b, d, f) at a magnification of 100×. g We demarcated the border (red line in the photo) of the blue stained area in the interstitium and excluded essential kidney structures (e.g., the glomeruli, tubules, peritubular capillaries, or vessels). The border was drawn manually with ImageJ software. h The graph indicates the percentage of the fibrosis area in each group. The circular, rectangular, and triangular dots represent the data in the control, CsA, and CsA + DHMEQ groups, respectively. The bars represent the mean values ± s.e.m.s.