Fig. 8

Pro-inflammatory markers, iNOS, TNF-α and IL-1β are decreased in PK007 treated mdx mice. Representative images of GA muscles from vehicle-treated (A, C, E) and PK007-treated (B, D, F) mdx mice, stained for pro-inflammatory markers iNOS, TNF-α, and IL-1β. Panels A-B’ show iNOS expression (red) with nuclei counterstained with DAPI (blue). Panels C-D’ show TNF-α expression (red) with DAPI counterstaining (blue), and panels E–F’ show IL-1β expression (red) with DAPI counterstaining (blue). Magnified regions (A’-F’) highlight reduced expression of pro-inflammatory markers in PK007-treated muscles. Quantitative analysis of marker expression is shown in panels G-I. Panel G depicts iNOS expression as a percentage of total muscle area, with significantly reduced levels in PK007-treated mdx muscles compared to Vehicle-treated controls (p = 0.0201). Panel H shows TNF-α expression percentages in the TA and GA muscles, demonstrating significant reductions in PK007-treated mice (p = 0.0156 for TA and p = 0.0181 for GA muscles). Panel I quantifies IL-1β expression percentages in TA and GA muscles, showing significant reductions in the GA muscle of PK007-treated mice compared to controls (p = 0.0593 for TA and p = 0.0197 for GA muscles). Data are presented as mean ± SEM, with individual points representing biological replicates, n = 10 in PK007-treated mdx mice and n = 9 in vehicle-treated mdx mice. Statistical significance was determined using unpaired two-tailed t-tests