Fig. 2

Representative results of IL-23 among different groups. All magnifications ×200. a (a) Human kidney tissues from the positive control. (b) IVD tissues from the normal control group. Nearly no positive cells can be recognized. (c) IVD tissues from the non-ruptured group. Only a few cells showed positive results. (d) IVD tissues from the ruptured group. Much higher positive results can be noted in this group than the other two groups. b In both the ruptured and non-ruptured groups, significant positive results of IL-23 can be found around the small vessels (a) and the infiltrated inflammatory cells (b)