Metformin treatment of T2DM rats produced dose-dependent significant reductions in urinary albumin and nephrin concentrations, glomerular basement membrane thickness (GBMT), and the foot process fusion rate (FPFR) compared with control T2DM model rats, whereas renal expression of nephrin protein and Nphs1 mRNA was dose-dependently increased by metformin treatment.
We amplified and sequenced a 514 bp promoter region of 100 individuals and found no genetic variants in the purine-rich GAGA-box of the nephrin gene promoter between groups of patients with diabetes type 2 with and without renal and coronary complications, control patients without diabetes and healthy controls.