Diabetic kidney disease in the db/db mouse.
Diabetic nephropathy is increasing in incidence and is now the number one cause of end-stage renal disease in the industrialized world. To gain insight into the genetic susceptibility and pathophysiology of diabetic nephropathy, an appropriate mouse model of diabetic nephropathy would be critical. A large number of mouse models of diabetes have been identified and their kidney disease characterized to various degrees. Perhaps the best characterized and most intensively investigated model is the db/db mouse. Because this model appears to exhibit the most consistent and robust increase in albuminuria and mesangial matrix expansion, it has been used as a model of progressive diabetic renal disease. In this review, we present the findings from various studies on the renal pathology of the db/db mouse model of diabetes in the context of human diabetic nephropathy. Furthermore, we discuss shortfalls of assessing functional renal disease in mouse models of diabetic kidney disease.
Dorrance Hamilton Research Laboratory, Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, USA. kumar.sharma@mail.tju.edu
Kumar
K
Sharma
Peter
P
McCue
Stephen R
SR
Dunn
D000419:Albuminuria / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000235:genetics*; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005920:Glomerular Mesangium / Q000473:pathology; D006984:Hypertrophy; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology; D007677:Kidney Function Tests; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice