Fig. 5.

ROCK inhibitor Y-27632 blocks high-glucose-induced impairment of albumin uptake by NRK52E cells and upregulation of TGF-β₁. a Flow cytometry (i, ii): Endocytosis assay with FITC-labeled albumin shows that high glucose impairs the endocytosis of FITC-labeled albumin by tubular epithelial cells induced by high glucose at 72 h, which is inhibited by an addition of a ROCK inhibitor Y-27632 (1 μM). b Western blot analysis shows that an addition of ROCK inhibitor Y-27632 (1 μM) inhibits high-glucose-induced upregulation of TGF-β₁ by tubular epithelial cells at 72 h. Each bar represents mean ± SEM for three independent experiments. ** p < 0.01 compared to low-glucose control; ^# p < 0.05, ^## p < 0.01 compared to the high-glucose group.