Effects of 11β-HSD1 inhibition on dermal thickness and expression of a collagen-associated gene in 1-year-old C57BL/6 mice.

<p>(A) Representative H&E and Masson's trichrome staining of 11β-HSD1 inhibitor-treated and vehicle-treated mouse skin (N = 6 per group). Bar = 100 μm. (B) Dermal thickness and the dermal area of 11β-HSD1 inhibitor-treated and vehicle-treated mice. Dermal thickness was calculated by averaging the thickness measured at five locations in each section. Three sections from each mouse were evaluated. The dermal area in each mouse was measured using Image J. Bars show the mean epidermal thickness ± SD (N = 6; **P<0.01, Student's t-test). (C) Western blot analysis of Collagen type 1 expression in mouse skin from three individual animals treated with the 11β-HSD1 inhibitor or vehicle. Bars show the results of densitometric analysis relative to β-actin. Mean ± SD of each group are shown. (N = 6) (D) The relative expression of Col1A1, Col1A2 and TGFβ1 in 11β-HSD1 inhibitor-treated and vehicle-treated mouse skin was assessed with rtPCR. GAPDH was used as an internal control. Bars indicate the mean ± SD.