CCN3 and renal fibrosis: To further examine the effects of chronic alcohol exposure on renal fibrosis, we determined the mRNA and protein expression levels of several fibrosis-related genes, including Col I, TGFβ, CCN2 and CCN3. We found that 2 weeks of the 4.5% alcohol diet treatment did not induce the mRNA or protein expression of Col I, TGFβ, CCN2 and CCN3 compared with the normal diet treatment (Figures 4a–c).