Fig. 4: Glomerular injury and podocyte excessive mitochondria fusion were attenuated in STZ-induced diabetic mice with podocyte-specific lncRNA Meg3 knockdown.

a Representative images of HE, periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS), PASM, and Masson staining in kidney sections (original magnification, ×400; scale bar, 20 μm). b Representative images of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) visualizing the glomerular ultrastructure (top panel, original magnification, ×12,000). Representative TEM images in lower panels display mitochondrial shape in podocytes (original magnification, ×30,000). The red dotted lines indicated the mitochondria, with a double membrane. c Comparison of mesangial matrix index in each group. d Comparison of Masson Trichrome staining area in each group. e Comparison of glomerular basement membrane (GBM) thickness in each group. f Degree of podocyte foot process effacement was quantified by assessing foot process width using TEM. g Comparison of mitochondria aspect ratio (AR) in podocytes of different group. h Comparison of mitochondria form factor in podocytes of different group. i Comparison of mitochondrial length in podocytes of a different group. j Comparison of the mitochondrial area in podocytes of a different group. k Comparison of mitochondrial circularity in podocytes of a different group. l Comparison of the mitochondrial perimeter in podocytes of a different group. Two hundred mitochondria were randomly selected in each group when mitochondrial morphology analyses were done. Normally distributed data were shown as mean ± SD, and non-normally distributed data were shown as median (interquartile range) in all statistical graphs (n = 6 mice per group). **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, and ****P < 0.0001.