Fig. 3

Adipocyte nuclear corepressor-knockout (AKO) mice are protected from skin fibrosis. Twenty-eight- to 32-week-old AKO mice and littermate controls (wild type [WT]) on a high-fat diet for 20 weeks were given daily subcutaneous injections of bleomycin (BLM) or PBS for 14 days, and skin was harvested at 21 days. a Increased dermal collagen deposition and loss of intradermal fat are attenuated in AKO mice. Masson’s trichrome stain. Representative images. Scale bars = 100 μm. b Quantification of dermal and intradermal adipose layer thickness. Assessments (fold change relative to controls) were performed in four or five mice per group and in five high-power fields per mouse. Data presented are mean ± SD, * p ≤ 0.05 by analysis of variance (ANOVA). c Reduced collagen accumulation. Left, hydroxyproline (HYPRO) assays, adjusted for wet weight; right, IHC for α-smooth muscle actin (ASMA). ASMA+ cells in the dermis were counted by a blinded observer in three randomly selected high-power fields in three mice per group. Results represent mean ± SEM. * p < 0.05 by ANOVA. d Fibrotic gene expression in PBS-treated (black bars) or BLM-treated (white bars) mice. Messenger RNA levels were determined by qRT-PCR. Results represent fold changes compared with control in triplicate determinations from three to five mice per group and normalized to GAPDH. * p < 0.05 by Mann-Whitney U test. EDA Extra domain A, TGF-β Transforming growth factor-β, Col1A2 Collagen type I, α2 chain, Col5A1 Collagen type V, α1 chain