Rosiglitazone prevented high glucose-induced VEGF expression. Mesangial cells were placed in 5.6 mM (NG) or 25 mM (HG) D-glucose for the indicated times or pretreated with PPARγ agonists (10 μM Ciglitazone, or 10 μM Troglitazone, or 10 μM RGS) for 1 hour. (a) VEGF mRNA levels were detected by real-time PCR (n = 4, *P < .05 versus NG, **P < .01 versus HG). (b) Pretreatment with three different PPARγ agonists similarly blocked HG-induced VEGF expression at 48 hours as detected by immunobloting (n = 4, *P < .01 versus NG, **P < .01 versus HG). (c) Rosiglitazone alone prevented HG-induced VEGF expression at both 24 hours and 48 hours as detected by immunoblotting in total cell lysates using β-actin as the loading control. The graphs represent VEGF protein levels relative to NG (n = 5, *P < .01 versus NG, **P < .01 versus HG). (d) GW9662 reverses the effect of RSG, (n = 5, *P < .01 versus NG without RSG or GW9662, **P < .001 versus NG without RSG or GW9662).