Effect of HBP on fibrosis in CKD mice. (A-E) To assess the effect of HBP on kidney functions and inflammation in A-CKD mice, plasma levels of BUN (A), creatinine (B), CRP (C), and IP (D) were determined in the control group (n = 5) and AdS-treated group (n = 6) on day 7 and the vehicle-administered group (n = 6) and HBP-administered group (n = 7) on day 21; expression levels of IL-6; E) were determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and the transcript expression was normalized to that of β-actin in the control group (n = 3) and AdS-treated group (n = 3) on day 7 and the vehicle-administered group (n = 3) and HBP-administered group (n = 3) on day 21. (F-H) To evaluate the effect of HBP administration on fibrosis in A-CKD mice, expression levels of Col1a1 were determined (F) by quantitative RT-PCR (normalized to β-actin); kidney specimens from the control group and AdS-treated group on day 7 and the vehicle-administered group and HBP-administered group on day 21 were processed for Masson’s trichrome staining (G), with representative images of the specimens from each group shown; and Masson’s trichrome staining was quantitatively analyzed (H). The percentage area of kidney fibrosis was calculated by evaluating 3 random fields per section. Data were expressed as means ± SD (n = 3). ∗P < .05. Col1a1, collagen-1a1; IL-6, interleukin-6.