Expression of mVWF/p.S1494C-p.A1534C in mice is associated with abnormal renal functions. (A) Blood creatinine and BUN levels were measured at day 4 after injection (in duplicates and on 5 mice for each construct). Elevated creatinine and BUN levels in pLIVE-mVWF/p.S1494C-p.A1534C-injected mice show that these animals suffer from abnormal kidney functions. Values plotted are the mean ± SE. Student t test was performed on both sets of data. (B) Histological analysis of kidneys taken from animals at day 4 after injection. These photographs are representative of tissue staining performed on 5 animals per construct. No platelet staining was seen in the kidneys of mice expressing mVWF/WT. Conversely, mVWF/p.S1494C-p.A1534C-expressing mice present with numerous platelet clots in the kidney vasculature. Those clots generally colocalize with large VWF deposits. High magnification (×100) of the longitudinal view of 1 such vessel shows nearly complete occlusion by VWF-rich thrombi. Wide field images were captured at an original magnification of ×63 (1.4 aperture) and high-magnification images at ×100 (1.4 aperture). All images were captured on a LSM 510 Meta confocal microscope at room temperature. Samples were mounted in Vectashield mounting medium (Vector Laboratories). All images were captured and processed with the LSM 510 software.