Diabetic Nephropathy Amelioration by a Low-Dose Sitagliptin in an Animal Model of Type 2 Diabetes (Zucker Diabetic Fatty Rat)

Table 3

Scoring and distribution of glomerular lesions in lean control and obese diabetic ZDF rats kidneys at the final time, 26 weeks of age (6 weeks of vehicle or sitagliptin treatment).

Glomerular lesion	Rat group	Scoring and distribution of glomerular lesions (𝑛 of rats)
	(𝑛=8 each)	Normal	Mild	Moderate	Severe
Mesangial expansion	Lean control (vehicle)	3	3	2	0
	Obese diabetic (vehicle)	0	0	3	5^aaa
	Obese diabetic (SITA)	0	1	5	2
Thickening of GBM	Lean control (vehicle)	3	5	0	0
	Obese diabetic (vehicle)	0	0	2^aa	6^aa
	Obese diabetic (SITA)	0	2	1	5
Thickening of CB	Lean control (vehicle)	1	6	1	0
	Obese diabetic (vehicle)	0	0	4	4
	Obese diabetic (SITA)	0	4	0	4
Nodular sclerosis	Lean control (vehicle)	2	4	2	0
	Obese diabetic (vehicle)	0	5	3	0
	Obese diabetic (SITA)	0	0	2^bb	6^bb
Glomerulosclerosis	Lean control (vehicle)	2	3	3	0
	Obese diabetic (vehicle)	0	0^a	3	5^aaa
	Obese diabetic (SITA)	0	4^bb	4^b	0^bbb
Glomerular atrophy	Lean control (vehicle)	6	2	0	0
	Obese diabetic (vehicle)	0	0	4^aaa	4^aaa
	Obese diabetic (SITA)	0	4^bb	2^b	2^b
Hyalinosis of the vascular pole	Lean control (vehicle)	8	0	0	0
	Obese diabetic (vehicle)	2	1	2	3
	Obese diabetic (SITA)	0	7^bbb	1^b	0^b

^aLean control (vehicle) versus obese diabetic (vehicle) rats; ^bdiabetic SITA-treated versus diabetic untreated rats. One, two, or three letters for 𝑃<0.05, 𝑃<0.01, and 𝑃<0.001, respectively. CB: capsule of Bowman; GMB: glomerular basement membrane; SITA: sitagliptin. Scoring was defined according to the extension occupied by the lesion (% area of the glomerulus): normal: <25%; mild: 25–50%; moderate: 50–75%; severe: >75%.