Fig. 1

Uric acid treatment induced glomerulosclerosis and tubular injury with downregulation of podocyte’s markers. a-b Glomerulosclerosis representative picture based on PAS staining in 400× magnification, bar = 100 μm. b Tubular injury representative picture based on PAS staining in 100× magnification, bar = 100 μm. Tubular injury was characterized by tubular dilatation (white arrow) and intraluminal cast appearance (black arrow). Uric acid injection induced glomerulosclerosis and tubular injury in Swiss background mice. Reduction of uric acid level attenuated glomerulosclerosis and tubular injury. c Serum uric acid level is higher in UA7 and UA14 groups. d-f Quantification of creatinine level, glomerulosclerosis and tubular injury score in each group showed renal deterioration in UA group. g Down-regulation of nephrin and podocin mRNA expression in Reverse Transcripatase PCR (RT-PCR) showed podocyte injury in UA groups. *p < 0.05 VS control; ***p < 0.001 VS Control; #p < 0.05 VS UA14, ###p < 0.001 VS UA14