Fig. 5.

ENaC protein and mRNA expression in PCK rats fed diets with varying sodium content. (a) Western blotting showing expression levels of α-ENaC in the renal cortex of the PCK rats fed a SD, NS and HS diets, and a summary graph with densitometry values (normalized to β-actin expression for the same samples). Each lane on the blot is one animal. (b) mRNA expression for α-, β-, and γ-ENaC in the renal cortex of the PCK rats fed a SD, NS and HS diets. (c) Western blotting showing expression levels of AQP2 in the renal cortex of the PCK rats fed a SD, NS and HS diets, and a summary graph with densitometry values (normalized to β-actin expression for the same samples). (d) miRNAs found to be differentially expressed (p < .05) in the cortical tissues of the PCK rats fed a SD, NS and HS diets. *, p < .05, **p < .01. (e) Western blots demonstrating total ENaC subunit expression in cultured mCCD cells transfected with a control scrambled miR sequence or miR9a-5p, with summary densitometry graphs (normalized to β-Actin and relative to control mCCD expression). Both β- and γ-ENaC are significantly decreased in mCCD cells over expressing miR9a-5p. * p < .05. Values in (b) and (c) were compared using a one-way ANOVA with a Tukey post-hoc test. For (d), differential expression was determined by DESeq2 method [34]. False discovery rate within statistical analysis was controlled for using the Benjamini-Hochberg method, p value cutoff was 0.05. Graphs with whiskers show mean value in each group and SEM. In (e), following a Shapiro-Wilk normality test, control and experimental values were compared using an unpaired student t-test.