The Protective Effects of Taurine against Early Renal Injury in STZ-Induced Diabetic Rats, Correlated with Inhibition of Renal LOX-1-Mediated ICAM-1 Expression

Figures & data

Table 1 Oligonucleotide sequence of primers used for RT-PCR

Primers	Size (bp)	Sense/antisense
β-actin	218	5′-CCTCTATGCCAACACAGTGC-3′/5′-GTCCTCCTGCTTGCTGATCC-3′
LOX-1	489	5′-AAAAAGTCGGGAGAATTGCCTATC-3′/5′-CCGGGTTTTTGCTTCTGGTCTT-3′
ICAM-1	413	5′-GGCGTCCATTTACACCTATTA-3′/5′-TTCCTTTTCTTCTCTTGCTTG-3′

Table 2 Clinical and metabolic parameters in the three groups

Group	Number of rats	Blood glucose (mmol/L)	Body weight (g)	Kidney weight (g)	Index of kidney hypertrophy (‰)	sCr (μmol/L)	BUN (mmol/L)
NC	8	5.3 ± 1.2	338 ± 28	2.49 ± 0.25	3.82 ± 0.43	32.8 ± 3.6	6.52 ± 1.46
DM	8	22.1 ± 3.4^†	218 ± 22^†	2.60 ± 0.18	6.18 ± 0.74^†	47.9 ± 4.3^†	19.8 ± 2.98^†
DM + TAU	8	20.9 ± 2.0^†	227 ± 19^†	2.34 ± 0.27	4.62 ± 0.38*^§	36.7 ± 3.2^§	11.6 ± 3.12^†§

*p < 0.05, ^†p < 0.01, compared with NC group; ^‡p < 0.05, ^§p < 0.01, compared with DM group.

Data are presented as mean ± SEM.

Table 3 Oxidative stress parameters in the three groups of rats

Groups	Numbers of rats	MDA (nmol/mg prot)	GSH-Px (U/mg prot)
NC	8	1.53 ± 0.12	6.09 ± 0.26
DM	8	3.48 ± 0.17^†	3.65 ± 0.22^†
DM + TAU	8	2.07 ± 0.11^†§	4.03 ± 0.31^†‡

*p < 0.05, ^†p < 0.01, compared with NC group; ^‡p < 0.05, ^§p < 0.01, compared with DM group.

Data are presented as mean ± SEM.

Figure 1. Representative micrographs of kidney tissue stained with HE from (A) NC, (B) DM, and (C) DM  +  TAU. Glomerular hypertrophy was evident in the untreated diabetic group, but glomerular size was reduced by taurine treatment. Original magnification × 400.

Figure 2. Representative micrographs of immunostaining for ICAM-1 in renal tissue from three groups: (A) seldom specific immunoreactivity in the NC group; (B) strong immunoreactivity for ICAM-1 on the glomerulus and peritubular capillaries (arrow) in DM group; (C) significantly reduced immunoreactivity staining of ICAM-1 on the glomerulus and peritubular capillaries (arrow) in DM + TAU group. Original magnification × 200.

Figure 3. (A) ICAM-1 index in glomerulus, and (B) immunostaining area fraction of ICAM-1 in interstitium in NC, DM, and DM + TAU rats. Values are the mean ± SEM. *p < 0.01 vs. NC, ^#p < 0.01 vs. DM.

Figure 4. (A) Western blot analysis of LOX-1 protein, and (B) densitometric analysis in renal tissue in NC, DM, and DM  +  TAU groups. Values are the mean ± SEM. *p < 0.01 vs. NC, ^#p < 0.01 vs. DM.

Figure 5. (A) RT-PCT analysis of LOX-1 and ICAM-1 mRNA, and (B and C) densitometric analysis in renal tissue in NC, DM, and DM +TAU rats. Lane 1 shows normal control, lane 2 shows DM, and lane 3 shows DM + TAU. Values are the mean ± SEM. *p < 0.01 vs. NC, ^#p < 0.01 vs. DM.