Figure 1.

TRPC6 is involved in the rearrangement of podocyte actin cytoskeleton. In DKD, various stimulating factors lead to high expression of TRPC6 and a large amount of Ca²⁺ influx, causing podocyte hypertrophy and foot process effacement. By binding Rho GTPase family proteins to ROCK, F-actin becomes disordered, shortened, and branched (a), or talins are abnormally cleaved by activation of calpain (b), causes the destruction of podocyte focal adhesion complex structure, increased motility, and ultimately leads to foot processes effacement, detachment of podocytes, and proteinuria. Abbreviations: FP: foot process; TRPC6: transient receptor potential canonical channel 6; Rho GTPase: Rho guanosine triphosphatase (Rho A, Rac1, and Cdc42); ROCK: Rho-associated coiled-coil protein kinase; GBM: glomerular basement membrane; ROS: reactive oxygen species; Ang II: angiotensin II.