Figure 5.

Downregulation of intracellular ROS levels inhibits activation of the NF-κB/RAGE signaling pathway in rat podocytes. (A) Cell viability was measured using a Cell-Counting-Kit-8 assay. (B and C) ROS generation induced by AGF in rat podocytes with or without 5 mM NAC pretreatment. (D and E) Protein levels of RAGE, p-NF-κB p65, NF-κB p65, p-IκB-α, and IκB-α. (F) mRNA levels of RAGE. Data are presented as the mean ± SD. n=3. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 vs. NG; ^&P<0.05, ^&&P<0.01 vs. HG. AGF, acute glucose fluctuation; NG, normal glucose; HG, high glucose; FITC, fluorescein isothiocyanate; RAGE, receptor for advanced glycation end products; ROS, reactive oxygen species; NAC, N-Acetyl-L-cysteine; p, phosphorylated.