Fig. 2

Renoprotective role of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) assessed using general parameters and pathological changes. a Body weight. b Right kidney hypertrophy index. c Blood glucose. d Urinary albumin/creatinine ratio. e Serum creatinine. f Serum cholesterol. g Representative images of periodic acid–Schiff staining of kidney tissues from different groups (scale bar = 50 μm) and electron microscopy (scale bar = 3 μm). h Glomerular area in different groups. i Glomerular basement membrane width. n = 5–7 per group. *P < 0.05 vs. Ctrl group; ^#P < 0.05 vs DM group