Fig. 3

HG-induced the stem/progenitor and mesenchymal cell markers in HK-2 and NRK-52E proximal tubular cell lines. A Western blotting indicates the effect of various glucose concentrations on CD133 expression levels for 48 h in HK-2 cells and C NRK-52E cells. B Quantification of CD133 protein expression in HK-2 cells and D NRK-52E cells. **p < 0.01 versus the group at 5.5 mM concentration. E, F Western blotting analysis of CD133, Vimentin, CK-18 and PCNA expression after incubation with HG for different times (0, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 versus the HG group at 0 h. G qRT-PCR analysis was carried out to compare the expression level of CD133, Vimentin and ZO-1. The two y-axes represent relative mRNA levels (left y-axis) or the fold difference in Ct value of HG over the NG group (right y-axis) in HK-2 cells and H NRK-52E cells. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 versus the group at 0 h