Research Paper Volume 15, Issue 21 pp 12618—12632

Figure 5. Inhibition of HMGB1 reverses glycerol-induced muscle injury (GIMI) and Pax-7 expression. (A) Representative images of H&E-stained tibialis anterior (TA) sections from mice in control group and glycerol-induced muscle injury (GIMI) without or with HMGB1 shRNA treated-group (GIMI+HMGB1 shRNA) (n = 3); scale bars = 100 μm. (B) Frequency distribution of cross-sectional area (CSA) of TA muscle fibers (n = 3). (C) Immunohistochemistry analysis of Pax-7 protein expression in TA muscle of control group, GIMI group, and GIMI+HMGB1 shRNA group (n = 3). (D) Quantification of Pax-7 staining intensity in TA muscle (n = 6). (E) Immunofluorescence analysis showing the expression of Pax-7 and desmin in TA muscle in the control, GIMI, and GIMI+HMGB1 shRNA groups (n = 3); scale bars = 100 μm. (F) Quantification of the Pax-7 and desmin positive staining fibers in TA muscle were analyzed by ImageJ software (n = 3). (G) The healthy fiber (large cells), degenerating fiber (mononuclear in necrotic cells), and regenerating fiber (multinucleated cells) were quantified with the positive double-staining of Pax-7 and desmin by using ImageJ software (n = 3). All data are presented as the mean ± SD of triplicate experiments. ^&p < 0.05 compared with the healthy fiber; ^*p < 0.05 compared with control group; ^#p < 0.05 compared with GIMI group.