Fig. 6.

The amelioration of renal function (a, b) and podocyte ultrastructure (c) in diabetic mice treated with berberine (BBR 100 and 200 mg/kg). Mice in both control and streptozotocin (STZ) groups received BBR treatment 8 weeks after the last STZ injection, and the BBR treatment lasted for 8 weeks. In the last week of the experiment, the renal function and podocyte ultrastructure were examined using detection kits and transmission electron microscopy (TEM; magnification ×4400). TEM analysis showed that the podocyte foot processes of the control groups were long and thin (white arrows), while those of the STZ groups showed diffuse effacement and fusion (black arrows). After BBR treatment, the structure of foot processes was partially recovered in the STZ groups (red arrows). The data are expressed as the mean ± SEM (n = 10 per group). **P < 0.01