Figure 2.

Effects of ATF4 knockdown on podocyte apoptosis when exposed to serum from DN mice in-vitro. (A) Comparison of knockdown efficiency of various ATF4 siRNA constructs and the most efficient ATF4 siRNA-3 was selected for the present study. (B) Western blot analysis showed that cleaved caspase-3 protein expression was markedly increased by ATF4 siRNA in MCP-5 cells. (C) Densitometric analysis of caspase-3 protein expression from Figure 2(B). (D) Podocyte apoptosis determined by flow cytometry showed significant increase in cell death by ATF4 siRNA treatment. (E) Quantification of apoptosis rates from Figure 2(D). siRNA-NC: Negative control siRNA. (**p < 0.01, *p < 0.05).