Fig. 9

Other key events of renal tubular mitochondrial perturbation in diabetes mice were improved by losartan treatment. A: Immunoblotting showed increased Bax1, Cytochrome C, and Caspase3 in the DKD subset, which decreased with losartan treatment. B and C: TUNEL and DHE staining indicated higher apoptosis and oxidative stress in the DKD subset, both reversed by losartan. D and E: Membrane potential and ATP biosynthesis in tubule across four subsets. F: Losartan enhanced respiratory function. Renal mitochondria from mice were tested using Seahorse equipment (5 µg mitochondria per well with MAS, 2 µM rotenone, and 10 mM succinate; n = 3–4). In the DKD subset, OCR, RCR, and ATP biosynthesis decreased, while proton leakage increased. Losartan restored the above effects. Outcomes are showed as mean ± SE, ^*P < 0.05 vs. CON subset; ^#P < 0.05 vs. DKD subset. n = 8