Fig. 2.

Urinary bladder weight and thickness of high-fat diet (HFD)/streptozotocin (STZ) and age-matched control rats. A and B: Masson’s trichrome-stained sections from rats 3 mo after STZ (A) and 6 mo after STZ (B). Left, age-matched control sections; right, HFD/STZ sections. UR, urothelium; DM, detrusor smooth muscle layer. C and D: the full bladder wall and smooth muscle thickness were measured in sections from age-matched control and HFD/STZ groups at 3 mo after STZ (C) and 6 mo after STZ (D). Both the full bladder wall and smooth muscle thickness at 3 and 6 mo after STZ injections were significantly increased in the HFD/STZ group (n = 3–5). E: the smooth muscle ratio (percentage of total thickness) was measured in animals 3 and 6 mo after STZ. The HFD/STZ group at 3 mo after STZ injections was significantly increased over controls (n = 3–5). F: bladder wet weight (in g) was measured over time to 6 mo after STZ injections in age-matched control, HFD, and HFD/STZ rats. HFD/STZ rats exhibited a significantly increased bladder wet weight compared with both age-matched control and HFD groups (n = 5–7). Statistical comparisons were made using an unpaired t-test (C–E) or two-way repeated-measures ANOVA and a Bonferroni posttest (F). *P ≤ 0.05 compared with the control group; #P ≤ 0.05 compared with the HFD group.