Fig. 2.

Chronic phosphate restriction reduces renal cyst burden and markers of tubular injury in pcy/pcy mice. A: representative images of sagittal sections from whole kidneys taken from 20-wk-old pcy/pcy mice fed a control or phosphate-restricted (Phos-rest) diet. Cystic index (B) and cyst number (C) were both reduced in mice fed the phosphate-restricted diet. Kidney gene expression for neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL; Lcn2 gene) (D) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) (E) was significantly lower in phosphate-restricted pcy/pcy mice compared with control mice; however, there was no significant difference in periostin (Postn) expression (F) between the two groups. No difference was observed in blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (G) or serum creatinine (H) between mice that consumed a phosphate-restricted and control diet (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 by Student’s t test; n ≥ 8 per group).