Gross pathology (A), light microscopy (B), electron microscopy observation (C), tubulointerstitial damage scores (D), and foot process fusion rates (E) of the kidney of hyperuricemic rats treated for 6 weeks with SFN. Scale bar: 100 μm; original magnification 400× (B); and scale bar: 5 μm; original magnification 3000× (C). Five fields of view per section and three rats per group were tested. * indicates that the difference is statistically significant compared with the NC group (P<0.05); # indicates that the difference is statistically significant compared to the HUA group (P<0.05); ANOVA, followed by LSD for post-hoc comparisons.