Fig. 3.

sFLT-1 reduced glomerular endothelial activation, the number of glomerular macrophages and glomerular inflammation in diabetic mice. Mice were injected with STZ to induce diabetes. In week 6, diabetic (D) and control (C) mice were transfected with a construct expressing sFlt-1 (S). At 5 and 15 weeks, VCAM-1 (a), ICAM-1 (b), PECAM-1 (c), TNF-α (d) and the number of glomerular macrophages (e) were measured. ***p < 0.001, Student’s t test between groups at week 5. **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001, one-way ANOVA between groups at week 15. ^†† p < 0.01 vs the corresponding diabetic mice at 5 weeks, one-way ANOVA after correcting for the time effect. Bars represent means ± SD. Number of animals: non-diabetic, non-transfected control mice at 5 and 15 weeks (n = 5 mice each); non-transfected diabetic mice at 5 and 15 weeks (n = 7 and n = 6, respectively); non-diabetic control mice transfected with sFlt-1 (n = 10); and diabetic mice transfected with sFlt-1 (n = 6). (f) Representative image of macrophages present in a glomerulus of a diabetic mouse at week 15 after staining for CD68. Scale bar, 50 μm