Skip to main content
. 2015 Mar 10;6:6496. doi: 10.1038/ncomms7496

Figure 2. Maladaptive ER response in human and murine DN.

Figure 2

(a–c) Representative confocal images showing sXBP1 (using an antibody detecting the spliced form of human XBP1, a), ATF6 (b) and CHOP (c) in human renal biopsies from diabetic patients without (–DN) or with (+DN) diabetic nephropathy and box plots showing Icorr-scores for nuclear localization. In human diabetic nephropathy, nuclear localization of sXBP1 was reduced primarily in renal glomeruli, while nuclear localization of ATF6 and CHOP was increased when compared with biopsies from healthy subjects. (n=5 human renal biopsies per group were analysed). Scale bar represents (a–c: 20 μm); *P<0.05, Wilcoxon test, a–c). (d) Representative immunofluorescent images of human renal biopsies obtained from diabetic patients without (–DN) or with (+DN) diabetic nephropathy, stained for sXBP1, ATF6, CHOP (red) and podocyte marker WT1 (green) with a nuclear counterstain (DAPI, blue). Single colour images of the merged images shown here are available in Supplementary Fig. 3b. (e) Analyses of UPR target genes indicating ER stress in DN: Heat map obtained from ‘Ju Podocyte’ group from Nephromine, showing glomerular-specific gene expression levels of UPR target genes in human healthy living donors (n=41) and patients with diabetic nephropathy (n=12). (f) Bar graph showing relative mRNA expression levels of UPR target genes in isolated mouse glomeruli from wild-type non-diabetic control mice (blue bars) and diabetic mice (26 weeks post-STZ treatment, red bars). The mRNA levels of the genes tested were normalized to 18S as an internal control; (n=5 mice per group were analysed). Mean±s.e.m. *P<0.05 (t-test, f).