3.3. The increased mitochondrial fission in the kidney of KK-Ay mice was rescued in the Empa group.
To examined the change of mitochondrial dynamics in diabetic environment, we detected the mitochondrial fission related protein such as Drp1, Drp1S616 and DRP1S637 and the pro-fusion protein Mfn2. Here we found no significant difference in Drp1S616 and DRP1 between the KK-AY group and NC group, but the DRP1S637 decreased notably in the KK-AY group (Fig. 2A, E, F). Meanwhile, we found an obvious increase of mito-Drp1 in KK-AY group which verified the transfer of Drp1 from cytosol to mitochondria during the mitochondrial fission. The changes of DRP1S637 and mito-Drp1 in KK-AY group were reversed in Empa treated mice significantly (Fig. 2 C, E). There was no remarkable change of MFN2 was found among the three groups (Fig. 2A, G).