INCREASED EXPRESSION OF LAMININ INDUCED BY A HIGH-LIPID DIET IN ADRIAMYCIN-INDUCED NEPHROTIC SYNDROME

Song HM 1, Wei M 1, Li XW 2, Duan L 2, Zhu CY 1

1 Department of Pediatrics, 2 Department of Nephrology, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) Hospital, Beijing, China

 

Objective: To determine the effect of hypercholesterolemia induced by high-lipid diet on the expression of laminin (LN), which is a ubiquitous and major component and play key structural and functional role in tubular basement membrane (TBM).

Methods: A single injection of adraimycin (ADR) 5mg/kg body weight via vein was administrated in the nephrotic syndrome (NS) group (n=20). Non-NS rats (n=20) received only the vehicle. The animals in NS and non-NS groups were subdivided into standard chow group and lipid-rich group. Serum cholesterol and urinary protein excretion were assayed; immunohistochemistry and slot blotting were used to determine the expression of LN in adriamycin-induced nephritic syndrome (NS) and non-NS rats fed with standard chow and high-lipid chow.

Results: The results showed that serum total cholesterol level was significantly higher in rats with high-lipid chow in both the non-NS rats (2.2±0.3 vs. 0.9±0.1 g/L, p<0.01) and the NS rats (9.5±0.2 vs. 2.3±0.3 g/L, p<0.01). The urinary protein excretion was significantly increased in the high-lipid diet rats than that in standard chow rats (76.2±24.2 vs. 44.8±13.6 mg/24h, p<0.05) in NS rats. The immunohistochemical assay showed that the production of LN was increased in the NS group, especial in the rats with high-lipid chow. The increased mRNA expression of LN B2 chain was also detected with slot blotting in both the NS (2.4±0.4 vs.1.5±0.3, p<0.001) and the non-NS rats with high-lipid chow (0.8±0.2 vs. 0.3±0.1, p<0.01), and it was more obvious in the rats with NS.

Conclusion: Our findings indicated that diet-induced hypercholesterolemia could lead to over-production of LN in TBM, especially in the rats with an adriamycin-induced nephrosis, suggesting that hyperlipidemia may also aggravate tubulointerstitial lesions in nephritic rats.

 

 
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