Abstract.
Prepubertal years of diabetes mellitus are relatively protected from clinical manifestations of nephropathy. Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) is a major mediator of diabetic kidney disease. Its renal expression, translation, and activation change with sexual maturation in the normal rat. The role of TGF-β1 in postpubertal susceptibility to diabetic renal hypertrophy was addressed in the present study. Male Sprague- Dawley rats were given streptozocin at 4 weeks of age (weanling) or 14 weeks of age (mature) and treated with insulin to maintain blood glucose levels between 300 and 500 mg/dl. Nondiabetic controls received saline. After 6 weeks with ad libitum food and water, kidneys were snap-frozen for measurement of TGF-β1 protein and mRNA. As in previous studies, diabetic renal hypertrophy was blunted in weanling animals compared with mature rats. Message for TGF-β1 was not significantly increased in weanling animals {102 (9)% [mean (SEM)] in nondiabetic controls versus 117 (10)% in diabetic rats; P=0.91}, while it was significantly increased in mature diabetic animals [100 (7)% vs. 146 (11)%; P=0.01]. Immunohistochemistry revealed focal increases in glomerular staining in mature but not weanling diabetic rats. Differences in the control of the renal TGF-β system may explain the permissive role of puberty in the manifestations of diabetic kidney disease.
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Received: 18 December 2000 / Revised: 25 June 2001 / Accepted: 26 June 2001
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Lane, P., Snelling, D., Hollman, A. et al. Puberty permits increased expression of renal transforming growth factor-β1 in experimental diabetes. Pediatr Nephrol 16, 1033–1039 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004670100020
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004670100020