Fig. 5

Effects of iguratimod in experimental dermal fibrosis murine model. A–G Effects of iguratimod in bleomycin-induced dermal fibrosis murine model. Male C57/BL6 mice were subcutaneously injected with bleomycin for 6 weeks. Since the fourth week, oral (30 mg/kg) or topical (2%) iguratimod was administrated every day with bleomycin A. B Representative H&E, Masson, and Tgf-β/Egr1 staining of the skin. In lines 1–3 and 5, scale bars = 500 μm; in lines 4 and 6, scale bar = 250 μm. C Measurement of dermis thickness. D Quantification of hydroxyproline content. E α-SMA + myofibroblast counts in 200 × field. F and G The proportion of Tgf-β ( +) and Egr1 ( +) fibroblasts in each 200 × field. H–I Effects of Iguratimod in tight skin-1 (Tsk-1) mice. Tsk-1 mice were treated with 2% iguratimod topically twice a day for 42 days. H Representative images of Masson staining. Dot lines indicated hypodermal layers beneath the panniculus carnosus. Bar, 500 μm. I Hypodermal thickness. Bars represent median. IGU, iguratimod. *, 0.05 > P > 0.01; **, 0.01 > P > 0.001; ***, P < 0.001, one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni multiple comparisons test was used for statistical analysis, data are represented as median (B–G, I)