Figure 10. Rtn1a knockdown protects against DN development.

CAGs;Rtn1a^siRNA (shRNA) and CAGs;Luc^siRNA (WT) mice were injected with STZ to induce diabetes at age of 8 weeks. Mice were fed with DOX from 10 to 24 weeks and killed at age of 24 weeks. Urine albumin was determined (Supplementary Table 5). Kidneys were removed for histology (a) and glomerular volume (b) and mesangial area (c) were quantified. (d) Renal expression of Rtn1a and ER stress markers was determined by real-time PCR. The representative pictures of kidney histology are shown. *P<0.05 compared with nondiabetic WT mice (WT-Ctl), ^#P<0.01 compared with diabetic WT mice (WT-STZ), n=6. Each PCR experiment was performed in triplicates. The data were expressed as mean±s.d. The ANOVA with Bonferroni correction was used.