Synergism of calycosin and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells to combat podocyte apoptosis to alleviate adriamycin-induced focal segmental glomerulosclerosis

Figure 3 P-Smad3 is upregulated in podocytes of adriamycin-induced focal segmental glomerulosclerosis mice and reversed after treatment with mesenchymal stem cells pretreated with calycosin. A and B: Protein expression levels of p-Smad3 and Smad3 detected using Western blot and normalized to control. Data are expressed as the mean ± SD (n = 3). ^bP < 0.001; C: Immunohistochemistry staining for p-Smad3 in mouse glomeruli, which are indicated by red boxes and enlarged to the next row. Bar = 50 μm. NC: Normal control; ADR: Adriamycin; MSCs: Mesenchymal stem cells; CA: Calycosin; MSCs^CA: Mesenchymal stem cells pretreated with calycosin.