Fig. 3

IL-17A deficiency attenuates autophagy-associated protein expression in STZ-induced DN. WT and IL-17A KO mice (n = 6/group) were injected with STZ (50 mg/mL) for 5 consecutive days (citrate buffer was administered to control mice). The animals were euthanized 12 weeks after STZ injection. a The expression of autophagy-associated proteins (p-mTOR, ATG7, LC3-2 and ATG 3) in kidney homogenates was determined by western blotting analysis. b The band intensities were determined by densitometry using the ratios of p-mTOR, ATG7, LC3-2, and ATG 3 to β-actin. The mice were randomly assigned to four groups of six mice: (i) wild-type mice without STZ treatment (WT Cont group), (ii) STZ-treated WT diabetic mice (WT STZ group), (iii) IL-17A knockout (KO) mice without STZ treatment (IL-17A KO Cont group), and (iv) STZ-treated IL-17A KO diabetic mice (IL-17A KO STZ group). The data are expressed as means ± SEM. **< 0.01 and ***< 0.001 versus control group; ## < 0.01 and ### < 0.001 versus WT STZ group