Ischemic Preconditioning Alleviates Mouse Renal Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury by Enhancing Autophagy Activity of Proximal Tubular Cells

Selenium pretreatment improve renal function, autophagy signaling pathway and mir21a gene expression in renal ischemia reperfusion injury model in male rat

BACKGROUND

Renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (RIRI) is a major cause of acute kidney injury (AKI). Autophagy is an important mechanisms involved in this damage. In this study, we investigated effect of selenium on autophagy in kidney following IRI.

METHODS

In this study, 24 Wistar male rats (200 ± 20 gr) were divided into 4 groups: 1) Sham 2) Sham+ Sodium selenite (0.5 mg/kg) 3) Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) 4) I/R + sodium selenite. RIRI induces by vascular microclamp for 45 min. At the end of study, blood was taken from the heart tissue and used to measure BUN and Creatinine with the kit, the left kidney tissue was frozen for measurement of LC3II, LC3I, Beclin1, Rab11a, P62, and Caspase3 by western blot technique and measurement of mir21a by RT-PCR method. In addition, right kidney tissue was placed in formalin for histological studies with Haematoxylin‎‎-eosin staining.

RESULT

According to the results, in the I/R group compared to the sham group, serum levels of creatinine and urea, amount of autophagy including expression levels of Lc3II/Lc3I, beclin1, Rab11a, Cleaved Caspase3/Pro Caspase3 proteins significantly increased and expression of p62 decreased. Also, mir21a gene expression significantly decreased in the I/R group. According to histological results, ischemia-reperfusion has caused kidney tissue damage, such as destruction of the brush border of renal tubules, congestion, and leukocyte filtration. Our results showed that pretreatment with selenium reduced tissue damage and moderated the expression changes of the mentioned proteins.

CONCLUSION

It seems selenium inhibits autophagy by changing the expression levels of mediator molecules Rab11a and mir21a, and it can apply its healing effects in the damage caused by ischemia and reperfusion of kidney tissue in an animal model.

The Protective Role of the IRE1α/XBP1 Signaling Cascade in Autophagy During Ischemic Stress and Acute Kidney Injury

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common and serious complication resulting from ischemia and hypoxia, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. Autophagy, a cellular process for degrading damaged components, plays a crucial role in kidney protection. The unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway, particularly the IRE1α/XBP1 signaling cascade, is implicated in regulating autophagy during renal stress. To elucidate the role of the IRE1α/XBP1 pathway in autophagy during hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) and ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, renal tubular epithelial cells (TECs) were subjected to H/R conditions, and I/R injury was induced in mice. The expression of autophagy-related and ER stress markers (IRE1α, XBP1, GRP78, Beclin1, LC3I/II, and P62) was assessed using immunoblotting and immunofluorescence. Additionally, the impacts of IRE1α overexpression and pharmacological agents, IXA6 (IRE1α agonist) and STF083010 (IRE1α inhibitor), were evaluated on autophagy regulation. H/R injury significantly increased mitochondrial damage and the formation of autophagic vesicles in TECs. Key markers of autophagy were elevated in response to H/R and I/R injury, with activation of the IRE1α/XBP1 pathway enhancing autophagic processes. IXA6 treatment improved renal function and reduced injury in I/R models, while STF083010 exacerbated kidney damage. The IRE1α/XBP1 pathway is a critical regulator of autophagy in renal TECs during ischemic stress, suggesting that pharmacological modulation of this pathway may offer therapeutic avenues for preventing or mitigating AKI. Enhanced understanding of these mechanisms may lead to novel strategies for kidney disease management.

Multiple roles of mitochondrial autophagy receptor FUNDC1 in mitochondrial events and kidney disease

This article reviews the latest research progress on the role of mitochondrial autophagy receptor FUN14 domain containing 1 (FUNDC1) in mitochondrial events and kidney disease. FUNDC1 is a protein located in the outer membrane of mitochondria, which maintains the function and quality of mitochondria by regulating mitochondrial autophagy, that is, the selective degradation process of mitochondria. The structural characteristics of FUNDC1 enable it to respond to intracellular signal changes and regulate the activity of mitochondrial autophagy through phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. During phosphorylation, unc-51-like kinase 1 (ULK1) promotes the activation of mitophagy by phosphorylating Ser17 of FUNDC1. In contrast, Src and CK2 kinases inhibit the interaction between FUNDC1 and LC3 by phosphorylating Tyr18 and Ser13, thereby inhibiting mitophagy. During dephosphorylation, PGAM5 phosphatase enhances the interaction between FUNDC1 and LC3 by dephosphorylating Ser13, thereby activating mitophagy. BCL2L1 inhibits the activity of PGAM5 by interacting with PGAM5, thereby preventing the dephosphorylation of FUNDC1 and inhibiting mitophagy. FUNDC1 plays an important role in mitochondrial events, participating in mitochondrial fission, maintaining the homeostasis of iron and proteins in mitochondrial matrix, and mediating crosstalk between mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and lysosomes, which have important effects on cell energy metabolism and programmed death. In the aspect of kidney disease, the abnormal function of FUNDC1 is closely related to the occurrence and development of many diseases. In acute kidney injury (AKI), cardiorenal syndrome (CRS), diabetic nephropathy (DN), chronic kidney disease (CKD) ,renal fibrosis (RF) and renal anemia, FUNDC1-mediated imbalance of mitophagy may be one of the key factors in disease progression. Therefore, in-depth study of the regulatory mechanism and function of FUNDC1 is of great significance for understanding the pathogenesis of renal disease and developing new treatment strategies.

Tolerogenic CD11c+dendritic cells regulate CD4+Tregs in replacing delayed ischemic preconditioning to alleviate ischemia-reperfusion acute kidney injury

Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is one of the primary clinical causes of acute kidney injury (AKI). The key to IRI lies in immune-inflammatory damage, where dendritic cells (DCs) play a central role in eliciting immune responses within the context of inflammation induced by ischemia-reperfusion. Our previous study has confirmed that delayed ischemic preconditioning (DIPC) can reduce the kidney injury by mediating DCs to regulate T-cells. However, the clinical feasibility of DIPC is limited, as pre-clamping of the renal artery is not applicable for the prevention and treatment of ischemia-reperfusion acute kidney injury (I/R-AKI) in clinical patients. Therefore, the infusion of DCs as a substitute for DIPC presents a more viable strategy for preventing renal IRI. In this study, we further evaluated the impact and mechanism of infused tolerogenic CD11c+DCs on the kidneys following IRI by isolating bone marrow-derived dendritic cells and establishing an I/R-AKI model after pre-infusion of DCs. Renal function was significantly improved in the I/R-AKI mouse model after pre-infused with CD11c+DCs. The pro-inflammatory response and oxidative damage were reduced, and the levels of T helper 2 (Th2) cells and related anti-inflammatory cytokines were increased, which was associated with the reduction of autologous DCs maturation mediated by CD11c+DCs and the increase of regulatory T-cells (Tregs). Next, knocking out CD11c+DCs, we found that the reduced immune protection of tolerogenic CD11c+DCs reinfusion was related to the absence of own DCs. Together, pre-infusion of tolerogenic CD11c+DCs can replace the regulatory of DIPC on DCs and T-cells to alleviate I/R-AKI. DC vaccine is expected to be a novel avenue to prevent and treat I/R-AKI.

Is Renal Ischemic Preconditioning an Alternative to Ameliorate the Short- and Long-Term Consequences of Acute Kidney Injury?

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a global health problem and has recently been recognized as a risk factor for developing chronic kidney disease (CKD). Unfortunately, there are no effective treatments to reduce or prevent AKI, which results in high morbidity and mortality rates. Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) has emerged as a promising strategy to prevent, to the extent possible, renal tissue from AKI. Several studies have used this strategy, which involves short or long cycles of ischemia/reperfusion (IR) prior to a potential fatal ischemic injury. In most of these studies, IPC was effective at reducing renal damage. Since the first study that showed renoprotection due to IPC, several studies have focused on finding the best strategy to activate correctly and efficiently reparative mechanisms, generating different modalities with promising results. In addition, the studies performing remote IPC, by inducing an ischemic process in distant tissues before a renal IR, are also addressed. Here, we review in detail existing studies on IPC strategies for AKI pathophysiology and the proposed triggering mechanisms that have a positive impact on renal function and structure in animal models of AKI and in humans, as well as the prospects and challenges for its clinical application.