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

Table 4

Scoring and distribution of tubular 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).

Tubular lesion	Rat group	Scoring and distribution of tubular lesions (𝑛 of rats)
	(𝑛=8 each)	Normal	Mild	Moderate	Severe
Hyaline cylinders	Lean control (vehicle)	6	2	0	0
	Obese diabetic (vehicle)	0	0	7^aaa	1
	Obese diabetic (SITA)	0	8^bb	0	0
TBM irregularity	Lean control (vehicle)	2	5	1	0
	Obese diabetic (vehicle)	0	0	1	7^aaa
	Obese diabetic (SITA)	0	3^bb	2	3^bb
Tubular calcification	Lean control (vehicle)	8	0	0	0
	Obese diabetic (vehicle)	5	3	0	0
	Obese diabetic (SITA)	4	4	0	0
IFTA	Lean control (vehicle)	2	6	0	0
	Obese diabetic (vehicle)	0	0	3^aa	5^aaa
	Obese diabetic (SITA)	1	2	3	2^bb
Tubular degeneration	Lean control (vehicle)	4	4	0	0
	Obese diabetic (vehicle)	0	1^aa	4^aaa	3^aaa
	Obese diabetic (SITA)	0	3^b	5^b	0^bb

^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. TMB: tubular basement membrane; IFTA: interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy. Scoring was defined according to the extension occupied by the lesion (% area of the tubulus): normal: <25%; mild: 25–50%; moderate: 50–75%; severe: >75%. SITA, sitagliptin.