New Experimental Models of Diabetic Nephropathy in Mice Models of Type 2 Diabetes: Efforts to Replicate Human Nephropathy

Figure 3

Ultrastructural changes in BTBR ob/ob mice resemble human DN. (a and b) Electron microscopy of glomeruli of 22-week-old BTBR ob/ob mice shows qualitatively good preservation of foot processes overall. There is an increased mesangial matrix and evidence of mesangiolysis with fraying of the mesangial/capillary interface (arrows) in (b). (c and d) Basement membranes are thickened, and there is focal effacement of foot processes in BTBR ob/ob mice (c) when compared with BTBR WT mice (d). There is no evidence of immune deposits. (e) Advanced human DN, occurring after one or more decades of diabetes, also shows marked mesangial matrix accumulation with similar fraying of the mesangial/capillary interface as seen in BTBR ob/ob mice (double arrows). Reprinted with permission from the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology [46].