Aggravation of podocyte injury upon autophagy inhibition.

<p>(A–B).The Western blot results confirmed that the expression of synaptopodin and LC3 II was lower in ATG7 (a key protein of autophagy) RNAi-mediated knock down differentiated MPCs (siRNA+R+P) than in the siRNA negative control group (siCon+R+P). Both groups were pretreated with rapamycin and treated with PAN,*<i>P</i><0.05 vs Control, ^#<i>P</i><0.05 vs siCon+R+P. (C).In the presence of siRNA interference, GFP-LC3 granular expression (green fluorescence) nearly disappeared and cells appeared unhealthy with long and narrow nuclei. Synaptopodin expression (red fluorescence) was significantly downregulated. Magnification = ×1200.