Disruption of low-density lipoprotein receptor pathway induced by inflammation contributes to podocyte injury in diabetic nephropathy / 中华肾脏病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effects of low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLr) pathway on podocyte injury in diabetic nephropathy (DN) under inflammatory stress.Methods Male db/db mice and db/m mice were randomly divided into four groups (8 mice in each group)db/m group (control),casein injected db/m group (db/m + casein),db/db group (db/db),and casein injected db/db group (db/db + casein).An inflamed model of DN was established according to our previous study.24-hour urinary protein was measured every week.The plasma lipid profile was detected by clinical biochemistry assay.Podocyte changes were evaluated by electron microscope and immunofluorescent staining.Lipid accumulation in the kidney was evaluated by oil red O staining and intracellular cholesterol quantitative assay.The protein expression of Wilm's tumor-1 (WT-1),nephrin,α-smooth muscle actin (t-SMA),and molecules correlated with LDLr pathway were examined by immunohistochemical staining or Western blotting.The colocalized protein expression of LDLr with WT-1 was examined by immunofluorescent staining and laser confocal microscopy.Results There were no differences in plasma levels of LDL and HDL among four groups.Compared with db/db group,the db/db+ casein group showed markedly increased 24-hour urinary protein,more significant podocyte foot process effacement and podocyte damage,increased lipid droplet accumulation in kidneys,increased protein expressions of LDLr,SCAP and SREBP-2 in kidneys (all P ＜ 0.05).Interestingly,increased LDLr protein expression in kidneys of db/db mice was negatively correlated with decreased nephrin protein expression (r =-0.855,P ＜ 0.01) and positively correlated with increased α-SMA protein expression (r=0.768,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions The disruption of LDLr pathway induced by inflammation contributes to podocyte injuries in diabetic nephropathy.