“…Although the mesangial cells and podocytes are proposed as the major mediators of diabetic nephropathy, diabetic-induced microvasculature injury also plays a key role in the pathogenesis. Similar to diabetic retinopathy, increased density of glomerular capillaries, resulting from glomerular neovascularization, and increased number of efferent arterioles at the glomerular vascular pole have been seen in biopsies of patients with type 1 diabetes (4,5). In addition, there is increased glomerular expression of vascular growth factors, including angiopoietins and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (5)(6)(7), that likely contribute to diabetic nephropathy by promoting vessel leakage and reducing transendothelial electrical resistance (6,8).…”