(A) Representative immunoblot of ADRP in cultured proximal tubular cells infected with the control retrovirus (pBABE-CONT) or the retrovirus for ADRP overexpression (pBABE-ADRP); (B) Representative immunoblot of cleaved caspase 3, pPERK, PERK and CHOP in pBABE-CONT or pBABE-ADRP transfected cells, treated with/without palmitate. β-actin was used as a loading control; Quantitative results of cleaved caspase 3 (C), pPERK/PERK ratio (D) and CHOP (E) (n = 4); (F) Representative pictures of TUNEL staining for detecting apoptotic cells in pBABE-CONT or pBABE-ADRP transfected cells, treated with/without palmitate. White arrows indicate TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells; (G) Quantitative results of TUNEL staining. Data are shown as mean ± SD. p < 0.05 indicates statistical significance. ADRP, adipose differentiation-related protein; pPERK, PKR-like ER kinase (PERK) phosphorylated at Thr980; CHOP, C/EBP homologous protein; SCD, stearoyl-CoA desaturase.