Fig 2: Photomicrographs of MMP2 (a, b), MMP3 (c, d), MMP9 (e, f) and TIMP2 (g, h) in lung of control (a, c, e, g) and silibinin (b, d, f, h) groups at 240 min for MMP2, MMP3 and MMP9 and 180 min for TIMP2 (x200).

Fig 3: Expression of lung: (a)MMP2;(b)MMP3;(c)MMP9;(d)TIMP2. Middle boxes represent the inter-quartile range. Whiskers represent the lower and upper scores. Stars indicate the presence of outliers in the data set. A number indicates the serial number of the animal which has the outlying score. Kruskal-Wallis test (Dunn’s test with Bonferroni adjustment).

Fig 4: Expression of kidney: (a) MMP2; (b) MMP3; (c) MMP9; (d) TIMP2. Middle boxes represent the inter-quartile range. Whiskers represent the lower and upper scores. Stars indicate the presence of outliers in the data set. A number indicates the serial number of the animal which has the outlying score. Kruskal-Wallis test (Dunn’s test with Bonferroni adjustment).

Fig 5: Increasing activity of MMPs in WB. Gene expressions of (A) MMP2 and (B) MMP9 show significant upregulation in severe WB. (C) A representative gelatin zymogram for measurement of pro-MMP and MMP activity in mild and severe WB samples and the quantified activity of MMP activity (n = 8 in each group). Comparisons between the groups (mean ± SEM, n = 8) were analyzed using a t-test with Brown–Forsythe and Welsh correction; asterisks indicate significant differences (ns, non-significant; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001).