Figure 7.
Absence of podocyte-derived Npnt leads to mesangial expansion. (A) Periodic acid–Schiff–stained kidney sections of 4-month-old mice. Mesangial expansion is noted in some glomeruli from mutants (Ac and Ad, Npntf/f; Podocin-cre) compared with controls (Aa and Ab, Npntf/f). (Ad) A severely affected glomerulus is shown. (B) Mesangial sclerosis (MS) index in 4-month-old mice. Glomeruli were scored from 0 to 4 (see Concise Methods for details). More than 100 glomeruli were analyzed from each mouse. Analysis was performed in a double-blinded fashion by two independent investigators. Both yielded statistically significant differences between controls and mutants using the unpaired t test (*P<0.01). Ctl, control (Npntf/f); Mut, mutant (Npntf/f; Six2-cre).