Figure 3
AcSDKP inhibits DPP-4-associated TGF-β signaling in the kidneys of the diabetic mice.
(A–C) Immunofluorescence analysis in the kidneys of control mice, DM mice and DM mice treated with AcSDKP. Representative pictures are shown. Scale bar: 50 μM in each panel. Arrows indicate co-immunolabelling. Merged pictures are shown. N = 4 were analyzed. (D) Western blot analysis of DPP-4, TGFβR1 and smad3 phosphorylation in the kidneys of the control, diabetic and AcSDKP-treated mice. Representatives from 5 blots are shown here. (E–G) Densitometry quantification of DPP-4, TGFβR1 and smad3 phosphorylation. The data were normalized by β-actin for DPP-4 and TGFβR1. Phospho smad3 was normalized by total smad3. N = 5 were analyzed. (H) qPCR analysis of DPP-4 mRNA expression. N = 5 in control while N = 6 in case of diabetic and AcSDKP treated diabetic kidneys were analyzed (I) DPP-4 activity analysis in kidney homogenate. N = 5 were analyzed in each group. (J) DPP-4 activity analysis in the plasma. N = 5 were analyzed in each data set. The data are expressed as the means ± s.e.m and are included in the graph. Diabetic mice are designated as DM in the figure.
