TGFB1 and acute kidney injury: However, pretreatment of SS led to a prominent reduction in the mRNA levels of these proinflammatory factors in the kidney of CI-AKI rats (TNF-α: 4.15 ± 0.42 vs. 1.86 ± 0.17, p˂0.001; IL-1β: 5.42 ± 0.56 vs. 2.31 ± 0.24, p˂0.001; TGF-β: 4.18 ± 0.42 vs. 2.45 ± 0.25, p˂0.001) (Fig. 4D-F).