Pioglitazone Attenuates Cystic Burden in the PCK Rodent Model of Polycystic Kidney Disease

Table 2

Effect of pioglitazone (4 mg/kg body weight) on fibrocystic disease in the PCK rat model.

7-week feeding protocol	Female animals				Male animals
	Control 𝑛=8	Pioglitazone 𝑛=8	𝑃-value and significance		Control 𝑛=5	Pioglitazone 𝑛=8	𝑃-value and significance
Body weight (gr)	239±9.48	236±7.89	.82	NS	347±9.50	342±6.31	.68	NS
Kidney weight (gr)	3.74±0.22	3.38±0.19	.23	NS	6.64±0.37	5.53±0.20	.014	S
KW% BW	1.56±0.04	1.43±0.06	.103	NS	1.91±0.08	1.61±0.05	.007	S
Renal cyst vol	0.39±0.05	0.30±0.03	.016	S	0.71±0.06	0.50±0.03	.006	S
Liver weight (gr)	13.4±0.54	12.4±0.59	.24	NS	16.80±0.77	15.16±0.49	.085	NS
LW% BW	5.59±0.12	5.24±0.11	.043	S	4.83±0.10	4.42±0.12	.040	S
Renal fibrosis	1.69±0.53	1.50±0.27	.38	NS	2.00±0.35	1.38±0.44	.022	S
Liver fibrosis	2.44±0.18	2.31±0.37	.39	NS	2.30±0.27	2.36±0.24	.68	NS

PCK rats were fed on control or pioglitazone-supplemented diet (4 mg/kg BW) from weeks 3–10 (7 weeks). The values given are averages ± SEM. Abbreviations: KW% BW: total kidney weight as a percentage of total body weight; renal cyst vol: the estimated renal cystic volume in ml; LW% BW: liver weight as a percentage of total body weight. Fibrosis was scaled on a 1–4 point scale using deidentified picrosirus red stained slides of transverse kidney sections as described in the methods section. 𝑃-values are for the comparison of control versus pioglitazone-supplemented diets by Students 𝑡-test. 𝑃 less than  .05 is considered significant. NS: not significant.