Fig. 5.

NPY^−/− mice are protected from albuminuria and podocyte damage in low-dose adriamycin nephropathy. Adriamycin was administered to male NPY knockout (NPY^−/−) 129/Sv and WT 129/Sv mice at 6 mg/kg via a single i.v. injection under mild anesthesia. Tissue was collected 14 d following adriamycin injection. (A) uACRs were significantly lower in the NPY^−/− AN group compared with WT AN mice (*P < 0.05, n = 7 WT 3 d, n = 5 NPY^−/− 3 d, n = 10 WT 14 d, n = 10 NPY^−/− 14 d); (B) PAS staining demonstrated evidence of sclerosis in some glomeruli of each AN group with mild tubular dilation and protein casts in WT AN mice (black arrow). (C) EM images of WT and NPY^−/− AN mice. (D) Quantification of podocyte FP width. (E) The number of FPs per glomerular basement membrane (GBM) length as a measurement of effacement, demonstrating a significant reduction in FP effacement in NPY^−/− AN compared with WT AN mice (***P < 0.001 n = 3/group, >20 regions per mouse).