PMC

The mechanism and consequence of Notch activation in podocytes. The proposed model for Notch activation in podocytes based on data from Lin et al. (indicated by blue lines) and prior published work (–) (black lines). In podocytes, hyperglycemia or TGF-β leads to increased Notch activity and an increase in NICD. Increased Notch activity in podocytes causes VEGF release, decrease in nephrin expression, and apoptosis. In addition, prior experiments also showed that Notch activation leads to increased TGF-β expression and p53 mediated apoptosis. (A high-quality digital representation of this figure is available in the online issue.)