A Single-Cell Transcriptome Atlas of the Mouse Glomerulus.

Background Three different cell types constitute the glomerular filter: mesangial cells, endothelial cells, and podocytes. However, to what extent cellular heterogeneity exists within healthy glomerular cell populations remains unknown.Methods We used nanodroplet-based highly parallel transcriptional profiling to characterize the cellular content of purified wild-type mouse glomeruli.Results Unsupervised clustering of nearly 13,000 single-cell transcriptomes identified the three known glomerular cell types. We provide a comprehensive online atlas of gene expression in glomerular cells that can be queried and visualized using an interactive and freely available database. Novel marker genes for all glomerular cell types were identified and supported by immunohistochemistry images obtained from the Human Protein Atlas. Subclustering of endothelial cells revealed a subset of endothelium that expressed marker genes related to endothelial proliferation. By comparison, the podocyte population appeared more homogeneous but contained three smaller, previously unknown subpopulations.Conclusions Our study comprehensively characterized gene expression in individual glomerular cells and sets the stage for the dissection of glomerular function at the single-cell level in health and disease.

Single-nephron proteomes connect morphology and function in proteinuric kidney disease.

In diseases of many parenchymatous organs, heterogeneous deterioration of individual functional units determines the clinical prognosis. However, the molecular characterization at the level of such individual subunits remains a technological challenge that needs to be addressed in order to better understand pathological mechanisms. Proteinuric glomerular kidney diseases are frequent and assorted diseases affecting a fraction of glomeruli and their draining tubules to variable extents, and for which no specific treatment exists. Here, we developed and applied a mass spectrometry-based methodology to investigate heterogeneity of proteomes from individually isolated nephron segments from mice with proteinuric kidney disease. In single glomeruli from two different mouse models of sclerotic glomerular disease, we identified a coherent protein expression module consisting of extracellular matrix protein deposition (reflecting glomerular sclerosis), glomerular albumin (reflecting proteinuria) and LAMP1, a lysosomal protein. This module was associated with a loss of podocyte marker proteins while genetic ablation of LAMP1-correlated lysosomal proteases could ameliorate glomerular damage in vivo. Furthermore, proteomic analyses of individual glomeruli from patients with genetic sclerotic and non-sclerotic proteinuric diseases revealed increased abundance of lysosomal proteins, in combination with a decreased abundance of mutated gene products. Thus, altered protein homeostasis (proteostasis) is a conserved key mechanism in proteinuric kidney diseases. Moreover, our technology can capture intra-individual variability in diseases of the kidney and other tissues at a sub-biopsy scale.

Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-α Inhibition Protects Against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity in Mice.

Doxorubicin is an effective chemotherapeutic drug against a considerable number of malignancies. However, its toxic effects on myocardium are confirmed as major limit of utilization. PPAR-α is highly expressed in the heart, and its activation leads to an increased cardiac fatty acid oxidation and cardiomyocyte necrosis. This study was performed to adjust the hypothesis that PPAR-α receptor inhibition protects against doxorubicin-induced cardiac dysfunction in mice. Male Balb/c mice were used in this study. Left atria were isolated, and their contractility was measured in response to electrical field stimulation in a standard organ bath. PPAR-α activity was measured using specific PPAR-α antibody in an ELISA-based system coated with double-strand DNA containing PPAR-α response element sequence. Moreover, cardiac MDA and TNF-α levels were measured by ELISA method. Following incubation with doxorubicin (35 µM), a significant reduction in atrial contractility was observed (P < 0.001). Pretreatment of animals with a selective PPAR-α antagonist, GW6471, significantly improved doxorubicin-induced atrial dysfunction (P < 0.001). Furthermore, pretreatment of the mice with a non-selective cannabinoid agonist, WIN55212-2, significantly decreased PPAR-α activity in cardiac tissue, subsequently leading to significant improvement in doxorubicin-induced atrial dysfunction (P < 0.001). Also, GW6471 and WIN significantly reduced cardiac MDA and TNF-α levels compared with animals receiving doxorubicin (P < 0.001). The study showed that inhibition of PPAR-α is associated with protection against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in mice, and cannabinoids can potentiate the protection by PPAR-α blockade. Moreover, PPAR-α may be considered as a target to prevent cardiotoxicity induced by doxorubicin in patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Increased Salivary Nitrite and Nitrate Excretion in Rats with Cirrhosis.

Increased nitric oxide (NO) formation is mechanistically linked to pathophysiology of the extrahepatic complications of cirrhosis. NO is formed by either enzymatic or non-enzymatic pathways. Enzymatic production is catalyzed by NO synthase (NOS) while entero-salivary circulation of nitrate and nitrite is linked to non-enzymatic formation of NO under acidic pH in the stomach. There is no data on salivary excretion of nitrate and nitrite in cirrhosis. This study was aimed to investigate salivary levels of nitrate and nitrite in a rat model of biliary cirrhosis. Cirrhosis was induced by bile duct ligation (BDL). Four weeks after the operation, submandibular ducts of anesthetized BDL and control rats were cannulated with polyethylene microtube for saliva collection. Assessment of pH, nitrite and nitrate levels was performed in our research. We also investigated NOS expression by real time RT-PCR to estimate eNOS, nNOS and iNOS mRNA levels in the submandibular glands. Salivary pH was significantly lower in BDL rats in comparison to control animals. We also observed a statistically significant increase in salivary levels of nitrite as well as nitrate in BDL rats while there was no elevation in the mRNA expression of nNOS, eNOS, and iNOS in submandibular glands of cirrhotic groups. This indicates that an increased salivary level of nitrite/nitrate is less likely to be linked to increased enzymatic production of NO in the salivary epithelium. It appears that nitrate/nitrite can be transported from the blood stream by submandibular glands and excreted into saliva as entero-salivary circulation, and this mechanism may have been exaggerated during cirrhosis.

Therapeutic potential of cannabinoids in counteracting chemotherapy-induced adverse effects: an exploratory review.

Cannabinoids (the active constituents of Cannabis sativa) and their derivatives have got intense attention during recent years because of their extensive pharmacological properties. Cannabinoids first developed as successful agents for alleviating chemotherapy associated nausea and vomiting. Recent investigations revealed that cannabinoids have a wide range of therapeutic effects such as appetite stimulation, inhibition of nausea and emesis, suppression of chemotherapy or radiotherapy-associated bone loss, chemotherapy-induced nephrotoxicity and cardiotoxicity, pain relief, mood amelioration, and last but not the least relief from insomnia. In this exploratory review, we scrutinize the potential of cannabinoids to counteract chemotherapy-induced side effects. Moreover, some novel and yet important pharmacological aspects of cannabinoids such as antitumoral effects will be discussed.