Dri chem slide system

Male C57BL/6 mice were purchased from CLEA Japan (Tokyo, Japan) and maintained in a specific pathogen-free mouse center at Juntendo University. CKD was induced by 5/6 nephrectomy (Nx) under anesthesia consisting of 0.3 mg/kg medetomidine, 4 mg/kg midazolam, and 5 mg/kg butorphanol by intraperitoneal injection. In one group, right kidney was removed, and upper and lower thirds of left kidney were resected. The other group consisted of mice that underwent sham procedures, including decapsulation of both kidneys. One week after the 5/6Nx, the mice were divided into three groups: mice treated with continuous intraperitoneal infusion (0.136 μg/day) of either AGE-aptamer or control-aptamer by an osmotic pump (model 2006; ALZET, Cupertino, CA, USA) or without treatment. All the mice were killed 7 weeks after the surgery, and blood and gastrocnemius muscles were obtained for morphological, immunohistochemical, and biochemical analyses. Body weights of mice were recorded just before the tissue removal. Plasma levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine were measured using a Fujidrychem7000 and DRI-CHEM slide system (FUJIFILM, Kanagawa, Japan) following the manufacturer’s protocol. All animal experiments and procedures were approved by Juntendo University, and conducted accordance with the guidelines of Juntendo University for the care and use of laboratory animals.