Fig. 3

ATF5 downregulation ameliorates tubulointerstitial injury in db/db mice. A Bodyweight changes. B Blood glucose concentrations. C Serum creatinine level. D Urinary albumin excretion (ACR). E Morphological examinations of tubular and glomerular changes by HE, PAS, Masson. Scale bars: 30 μm. E1–E2 Quantitative analysis of interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IFTA) scores, glomerular damage in the kidneys. F The thickness of the basement membrane and mitochondrial fragmentation in renal tissue are shown by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (a–d). Lower scale bar: 2.5 μm, upper scale bar: 1 μm; IHC images of Drp1 in mice kidney (e, f). Scale bar: 30 μm. G GFP fluorescence images in kidney tissues of mice. Scale bar: 30 μm. H the production of superoxide was assessed by DHE. Scale bar: 50 μm. I TUNEL staining in renal tissues of mice. Scale bar: 50 μm. G1–I1 Semiquantification of GFP and DHE fluorescence density and statistical analysis of TUNEL-positive cells, the integrated optical density of DHE/DAPI was calculated by IPP. All data are presented as means ± SD; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 vs. db/m; ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01 vs. db/db + LV-NC-shRNA; ns, no statistical significance. n = 6