Fig. 5.

SOX2OT alleviated DN pathogenesis by regulating Akt/mTOR-mediated autophagy in STZ-induced DN mice. a Blood glucose, 24 h proteinuria, serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels in DN mice after SOX2OT overexpression in the presence or absence of rapamycin. b Relative kidney weight in DN mice with SOX2OT overexpression in the presence or absence of rapamycin. c HE, Masson and LC3 staining of renal sections in DN mice in response to SOX2OT overexpression in the presence or absence of rapamycin. IHC staining detected fibronectin and collagen IV levels. Scale bar: 50 μm. d Western blot analysis was employed to determine p-Akt, Akt, p-mTOR and mTOR levels in the kidney of DN mice after SOX2OT overexpression in the presence or absence of rapamycin. e Western blot analysis of LC3II, LC3I, Beclin1 and p62 in the kidney of DN mice after SOX2OT overexpression in the presence or absence of rapamycin. f, g Expression levels of collagen IV, fibronectin, α-SMA, E-cadherin and N-cadherin were measured by western blot in the kidney of DN mice after SOX2OT overexpression in the presence or absence of rapamycin. GAPDH was used as a loading control in western blot analysis. Error bars indicate the mean ± SD of at least triplicate experiments. Rapa, rapamycin. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, One-way-ANOVA followed by Newman-Keuls post hoc test