Fig. 4

In vivo effects of LIPUS on MRL/lpr mice. a The average salivary volumes of 12-week-old, 20-week-old, and 24-week-old MRL/lpr mice were lower those of 6-week-old MRL/lpr mice. The average salivary secretion of the MRL/lpr mice at each age was also significantly lower than that for C57BL/6 mice at the same ages. **p < 0.01; ^‡ p < 0.01 compared with 6-week-old C57BL/6 mice; ^## p < 0.01 compared with 6-week-old MRL/lpr mice (n = 5). b Both 12-week-old and 20-week-old MRL/lpr mice showed a significant increase in salivary flow following LIPUS treatment. **p < 0.01 (n = 5). c Histological scores for inflammatory lesions present in the salivary glands of untreated versus LIPUS-treated MRL/lpr mice. LIPUS treatment significantly improved the histological score. *p < 0.05 (n = 5). d In both the serous and mucous acini of the submandibular glands, acinar cells of untreated MRL/lpr mice exhibited weak staining for AQP5, whereas intense staining of AQP5 was localized to apical sites in acinar cells of MRL/lpr mice treated with LIPUS (arrows). Scale bar = 100 μm. e In Western blot assays, levels of TNF-α were significantly lower, and levels of AQP5 were significantly higher, following LIPUS treatment compared with untreated MRL/lpr samples. Detection of β-actin was used to calculate relative fold induction for each. *p < 0.05 (n = 5). AQP5 aquaporin 5, LIPUS low-intensity pulsed ultrasound, MRL/lpr MRL/MpJ/lpr/lpr, TNF-α tumor necrosis factor α