Sitagliptin Prevents Inflammation and Apoptotic Cell Death in the Kidney of Type 2 Diabetic Animals

Figure 6

Effect of sitagliptin treatment in BAX, Bcl-2, and Bid content and TUNEL-positive cells in the diabetic kidney. (a) mRNA expression of BAX (a1) and Bcl-2 (a2) in the kidney and BAX/Bcl-2 ratio (a3). (b) The protein levels of BAX and Bcl-2 and BAX/Bcl-2 ratio were assessed in total kidney cell lysates by Western Blotting in ZDF (+/+) and ZDF (fa/fa) nontreated or treated with sitagliptin. (c) The protein levels of Bid were assessed in total kidney cell lysates by Western Blotting in ZDF (+/+) and ZDF (fa/fa) nontreated or treated with sitagliptin. The Western Blots presented are representative of each group of animals. Data are expressed as percentage of control and represent the mean ± SEM (𝑛≥6 per group); ^∗𝑃<0.05, ^∗∗𝑃<0.01, and ^∗∗∗𝑃<0.001 significantly different from control; ^#𝑃<0.05 and ^##𝑃<0.01 significantly different from diabetic. (d) Representative confocal images for each group of animals showing TUNEL-positive (green) cells and nuclear counterstaining with DAPI (blue) in kidney sections (6 μm).