Figure 12.

Electron micrographs of sections in the collecting tubule of adult male rats in all study groups. a Control group, the collecting tubular cells have regular euchromatic nuclei (n) with prominent nucleoli (n). They have smooth apical membrane away from few short microvilli (mv) and numerous mitochondria (m). The cells are attached to each other by tight junctions (j). b DN group, the collecting tubular cell has rarified cytoplasm (*) and bizarre shaped mitochondria (M) and rests on a thick basement membrane (BM). c DN + ZnO-NPs group, the collecting tubular cells have regular euchromatic nucleus (N) with prominent nucleoli (n). They have smooth apical membranes (a), numerous mitochondria (M) and apparent vacuoles (v). The cells are attached to each other by tight junctions (J).