2.5. Renal histology

Once blood samples were obtained, mice were perfused through the left ventricle with phosphate-saline buffer solution (PBS, pH 7.4; 0.1 M), just before the extraction of the remnant of left kidney. After a thorough cleansing of the tissue, it was deposited in a 4% formaldehyde solution. Afterwards, the conventionally dehydrated tissues were fixed in paraffin and sectioned in slices 5 μm thick, which then were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). Tissue was examined using light field optical microscopy by two blinded to treatments experts. Analysis was performed in at least 10, randomly chosen optical fields where at least 50 glomeruli were analyzed.