Morphological aspects of the mesangial axis and tubulointerstitial area in the experimental animals at the end of the study.

<p>A–D show PAS-stained glomerular photomicrographs with a significant increase in the mesangial area in the DM group (B) compared to the control group (A) and no increase in the DM groups treated with FCS (C) or ENX (D). In E, a semi-quantitative analysis demonstrated a 1.4-fold increase in the mesangial area in the DM group compared to the other groups. In F–I, PAS-stained renal sections show expansion of the interstitial area with tubular dilation in the DM group (G), compared to the control animals (F) and GAG-treated groups (H and I). In J, the semiquantitative analysis shows a discrete but significant expansion in the DM group. In L–N, the Sirius Red staining area shows a trend toward increased deposition of collagen fibers in the interstitial area in the DM animals (M) compared to the other groups but without statistical significance, as shown in (O). In N–P, Masson’s trichrome staining depicts the expansion of the interstitial area in the DM rats due to edema and tubular dilation compared to the treated groups. The data represent the means ± SEMs. *<i>p<</i>0.001, **<i>p<</i>0.0001. A–N, bar = 25 µm; N–P, bar = 50 µm.</p

Gene expression of proteoglycan core proteins in DM and GAGs treated groups related to control.

<p>Gene expression of: agrin, the major GBM proteoglycan; perlecan and collagen XVIII, predominantly mesangial proteoglycans; decorin, a small rich-leucine proteoglycan and glypican-1, a cell suface associated proteoglycan. Gray columns, DM; dark gray, FCS and black, ENX. *<i>p<</i>0.01 vs. control; #<i>p<</i>0.05 vs. DM.</p

The GAGs effectively reduced heparanase-1 expression in the glomeruli of treated DM rats.

<p>From A–D, immunofluorescence photomicrographs of heparanase-1–stained renal glomerular sections with an evident increase in expression in the DM (B) animals that was prevented by FCS (C) and ENX (D) administration, as confirmed by a semiquantitative scoring system (E). The data represent the means ± SEMs. *<i>p<</i>0.0001 vs. groups; #<i>p<</i>0.01 vs. ENX. Bar = 25 µm.</p

Functional parameters at the end of the experiment.

<p>The results are presented as the means ± SEMs. BWt, body weight; RWt, renal weight; SBP, systolic blood pressure; SCr, serum creatinine; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; DM, diabetic group; FCS, diabetic group treated with fucosylated chondroitin sulfate; ENX, diabetic group treated with enoxaparin;</p><p>*all of the diabetic groups vs. control;</p>#<p>DM vs. FCS and ENX groups;</p><p>**<i>p<</i>0.01 DM vs. control.</p><p>Functional parameters at the end of the experiment.</p

Gene expression analysis for glycosaminoglycan modifying/degrading enzymes in DM and GAGs treated groups related to control.

<p>Gray columns, DM; dark gray, FCS and black, ENX. *<i>p<</i>0.05 vs. control. HPSE, heparanase-1; CS, chondroitin sulfate; NDST-1, N-deacetylase/N-sulfotransferase; HS-3-ST-1, heparan sulfate-3-O-sulfotransferase 1.</p