Meprin Metalloprotease Deficiency Associated with Higher Mortality Rates and More Severe Diabetic Kidney Injury in Mice with STZ-Induced Type 1 Diabetes

Figure 1

(a) Messenger RNA levels for meprin α and meprin β. Kidneys from WT mice injected with high-dose STZ were harvested at 12 weeks post-STZ injection and Trizol was used to extract RNA. Real-time PCR was used to amplify meprin α and meprin β mRNA. Data were normalized to β-actin and analyzed using the comparative threshold cycle method. The results are presented as fold expression ± SEM () relative to nondiabetic (sodium citrate-injected) control mice. , . (b) Protein levels for meprin A and meprin B in the brush border membrane (BBM) of kidneys from wild-type (WT) mice with STZ-induced type 1 diabetes. Proteins were extracted from WT mice injected with low-dose STZ at 18 weeks post STZ injection, and Western blot analysis used to evaluate meprin protein levels in the BBM-enriched fraction. Diabetic kidneys had a significant decrease in the levels of both meprin A and meprin B proteins (). However, the fold change in protein levels was greater for meprin B (53%) than for meprin A (18%). ,

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