Fig. 2.

Albumin excretion rate (A), serum creatinine (B), and blood urea nitrogen (BUN; C) in male wild-type (WT-M), female wild-type (WT-F), male endothelial nitric oxide synthase-deficient (eNOS^−/−) db/db (Db-M), and female eNOS^−/− db/db (Db-F) mice. In A, the albumin excretion rate is indicated by the albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR). *P < 0.05 (Student’s t-test) for both Db-M vs. WT-M and Db-F vs. WT-F mice. Four mice were used in all age groups of WT-M and WT-F mice. For eNOS^−/− db/db mice, nine male and six female mice were included in the age groups of 4–20 wk and four mice were included in the group of 24 wk for both Db-M and Db-F mice. In B and C, blood samples were collected from mice at 24 wk. *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.05 (Student’s t-test). n, number of mice used in each group.