Expression of connective tissue growth factor in the kidney of diabetic rats

Objective To investigate the expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in the kidney of STZ induced diabetic rats and its relationship with the early renal hypertrophy.Methods Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into two groups,normal control (group N),diabetic nephropathy (group DN).Diabetes was induced by injection of STZ intraperitoneally after rats had received uninephrectomy.Blood glucose,body weight, urinary albumin excretion (Ualb),24 hour proteinuria (24?h?Upro) were observed respectively in the rats in 4,8,12 weeks of the experiment.Creatinine clearance (Ccr), the kidney weight,glomerular area and volume,renal tissue protein contents and renal expression of CTGF were determined in 12 weeks,when the rats were sacrificed.Results Ualb excretion,24?h?Upro and Ccr in DN group were significantly increased compared with that in N group ( P 0.01 respectively).Kidney weight, glomerular area and volume,renal tissue protein contents were markedly increased in DN group compared with that in N group ( P 0.05, P 0.01 respectively).Semi quantitative assessment of the immuno histochemical staining showed that glomerular expression of CTGF in group DN was significantly increased compared to that in group N( P 0.01),Furthermore,the expression of CTGF is positively correlated with the increasing of glomerular volume and proteinuria ( P 0.01 respectively).Conclusion Expression of CTGF is increased in early diabetic rats,which is possibly involved in the development of diabetic nephropathy.