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.