Research Article

The Iron-Klotho-VDR Axis Is a Major Determinant of Proximal Convoluted Tubule Injury in Haptoglobin 2-2 Genotype Diabetic Nephropathy Patients and Mice

Figure 5

Renal vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression in nondiabetic (nonDM) and diabetic (DN) mice. (a) Renal sections from Hp 1-1 and 2-2 mice were subjected to IHC of VDR (brown, indicated by arrowheads). (b) There was a significant decrease in the percentage of the VDR-stained area in the tubules of Hp 2-2 DM renal sections compared with Hp 1-1 DM () or with nonDM Hp 2-2 renal sections (). (c) Western blot analysis of VDR with the mice renal lysate. Proteins were detected by immunoblotting with antibodies against VDR and GAPDH. The values represent the mean ± SEM for 3 independent experiments subjected to 2-tailed, 2-sampled unequal variance Student’s t-test, with compared with Hp 2-2 nonDM and compared with Hp 1-1DM. AU: arbitrary units.
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