Elevated Urinary Connective Tissue Growth Factor in Diabetic Nephropathy Is Caused by Local Production and Tubular Dysfunction

Figure 1

Urinary CTGF and tubular dysfunction in diabetic mice. (a) The fractional excretion of recombinant CTGF (), a measure of tubular reabsorption failure, is increased in diabetes, (Mann-Whitney test). (b) Urinary endogenous CTGF excretion (eCTGF) correlates tightly with , , . (c) Tubular atrophy is not present in control mice but clearly visible in diabetic mice (white arrows). (d) Semiquantitative evaluation shows increased tubular atrophy in diabetic versus control mice, (Mann-Whitney test). (e) Urinary eCTGF correlates with tubular atrophy, , .

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)