Fig. 3.

Renal cyst development in PCK rats fed diets with different sodium content. (a) Upper panel shows representative images from H&E-stained kidney tissues of PCK rats fed a SD, NS and HS diets according to the experimental protocol. The scale bar (3 mm) is common for all top row images; the lower row of images demonstrates blown-up regions of cortical area from the upper images. (b) Summary graphs illustrating cystic index (percent of cysts relative to tissue slice area) in relation to whole kidney slices, and cystic index specifically in the cortical renal area of PCK rats fed a SD, NS and HS diets. Tissues from a minimum of 7 animals per group were analyzed. (c) Hepatic cyst development in PCK rats fed diets with different sodium content. Upper panel shows representative images from H&E-stained liver tissues of PCK rats fed a SD, NS and HS diets according to the experimental protocol. The scale bar shown is common for all top row images and is 2 mm; the lower row of images demonstrates liver regions expanded from the upper panel. (d) Summary graph illustrating cystic index (percent of cysts relative to tissue slice area) in the livers of PCK rats fed a SD, NS and HS diets. Tissues from at least 6 animals per group were analyzed. Values were compared using a one-way ANOVA with a Tukey post-hoc test. In box plots, the box is SEM, whiskers represent SD, and line within the box shows median value.