AR and renal fibrosis: Elliot et al. (2007) also demonstrated that androgens could boost AR expression in glomerular, mesangial cells, and the profibrotic cytokine at the mRNA level, thus promoting focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. Hoseini et al. (2009) also proposed that ND exposure encourages hypertrophy in proximal and distal mice tubules. Testosterone activity and ND direct action on AR may play a role in the genesis of renal fibrosis following long-term ND exposure (Brasil et al., 2015).