CCN2 and chronic kidney disease: 2011; Cheng et al. 2013), therefore, we assessed for cardiac fibrosis in our model. After 8 weeks, CKD mice have increased cardiac fibrosis on histology as detected by Sirius Red staining and gene signature of collagen remodeling with increased relative expression of type 1 collagen (Col1a1) and connective tissue growth factor (Ctgf) compared to sham controls (Fig. 4).