Quantifying Podocyte Number in a Small Sample Size of Glomeruli with CUBIC to Evaluate Podocyte Depletion of db/db Mice

Figure 6

Relative podocyte decrease of whole glomerulus in db/db mice. (a) Three-dimensional visualization of podocytes labeled with synaptopodin was expanded to obtain a 3D reconstruction of the whole glomerulus as glomerular volume (scale bar, 50 μm). (b) db/db mice had significantly increased glomerular volume, compared with the control group (at least 80 glomeruli per group), which there was a more marked increase in db/db mice with age of 16 w. The increased glomerular volume rate was calculated through the difference of mean glomerular volume between each db/db mice (at least 25 glomeruli per mouse) and the control group divided by mean glomerular volume in the control group (80 glomeruli). Data are expressed as ; , . (c) A statistically significant decrease in podocyte density per glomerulus in db/db mice with a remarkable decrease podocyte density per glomerulus by the age of 16 w was presented by column diagrams. Podocyte density per glomerulus of each group was calculated through mean total podocyte number per glomerulus divided by glomerular volume. Decrease in podocyte density per glomerulus of each group was calculated through difference of podocyte density per glomerulus between each db/db mice and the control group divided by mean podocyte density per glomerulus in the control group. Data are expressed as ; .

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