Description
OVE26 (OVE) mice provide a useful model of advanced diabetic nephropathy (DN) with respect to albuminuria and pathologies. We showed that albuminuria, reduced GFR and interstitial fibrosis, which normally take 8-9 months to develop, are more advanced in uninephrectomized OVE mice within 10 weeks of surgery, at 4.5 months of age. The accelerated progression of renal damage, especially renal fibrosis in OVE-uni mice, was also identified at the gene expression level. The hepatic fibrosis/hepatic stellate cell activation pathway was by far the most significant Ingenuity canonical pathway identified by gene array in OVE-uni mice. Many inflammatory- and immune-related pathways were found among the top pathways up-regulated in OVE-uni kidneys, including acute-phase response signaling, leukocyte extravasation, IL6, IL10, IL12 signaling, TREM1 signaling, dendritic cell maturation and the complement system. These pathways were also dramatically up-regulated in 8-month-old OVE mice (GSE20636). Nephrectomized OVE mice are a much faster alternative model for studying advanced renal disease in diabetes.