Introgression of the BN Shroom3 gene onto FHH background improves glomerular and overall kidney function. (A) At 14 wk of age, both homozygous and heterozygous FHH.BN14a congenic animals showed a significantly lower degree of albuminuria compared to FHH (n = 4, 7, 8, and 3, respectively). (B) Both heterozygous and homozygous FHH.BN14a demonstrated significantly improved glomerular permeability (Palb) compared to FHH. (n = 4 animals/115 glomeruli, 3 animals/76 glomeruli, and 2 animals/70 glomeruli, respectively. Palb in BN was obtained from previously published data [Rangel-Filho et al. 2005].) (C) FHH.BN14a kidney showed a decreased presence of glomerular sclerosis compared to FHH at 14 wk of age. A minimum of 30 glomeruli from three kidneys for each strain were scored for a percentage of sclerosis using a scale from 0 (no sclerosis) to 4 (complete sclerosis). (D) Representative trichrome-stained images of glomeruli from FHH and FHH.BN14a are shown. Fibrotic tissues are indicated by blue stain. Scale bars = 50 µm. (E) Electron microscopic images of glomeruli showed podocyte foot process fusion (indicated by arrow) in FHH compared to FHH.BN14a animals at 18 wk of age. Scale bars = 500 µm. (CL) Capillary lumen, (*) P < 0.05 vs. FHH, (#) P < 0.05 vs. BN.
