Fig. 6

Histopathological examination and changes of biomarkers of renal function in the s-GO and l-GO administrated mice at 48 h and day 7 post-injection. a Histopathological alterations in glomerulus (n = 3), magnification: × 20. b Histopathological alterations in renal tubule (n = 3), magnification: × 20 (upper panel), × 40 (lower panel). The red arrows indicate necrosis of renal tubular epithelial cells; the yellow arrows indicate cast formation and the blue arrows indicate the tubular dilatation. c Statistical analysis the changes of glomerular diameter in s-GO and l-GO administrated mice. d Scoring of tubular injury. Tubular injury was defined as necrosis, loss of brush border, cast formation and tubular dilatation. Six cortical fields of view (× 200 magnification) were randomly selected and the tubular injury was evaluated according to the following scoring system: 0 = no tubular injury; 1 ≤ 10% tubules injured; 2 = 11–25% tubules injured; 3 = 26–50% tubules injured; 4 = 51–75% tubules injured; 5 > 75% tubules injured. e Measurement of 24-h urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) after injected of 15 mg/kg bw s-GOs and l-GOs to mice (n = 3). f Serum levels of the biomarkers of renal function after i.v. injection of 15 mg/kg s-GOs and l-GOs to mice (n = 5). CREA: creatinine; BUN: urine nitrogen; UA: uric acid. Scale Bar: 40 μm; GBM: glomerular basement membrane. *p < 0.05 and ***p < 0.001 indicate the statistical difference between treated group and the controls. ^#p < 0.05 and ^##p < 0.01 indicate the statistical difference between s-GO and l-GO treated group