An Ex Vivo Approach to Studying Renin Dynamics

Abstract

Hypertension is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease and impacts one in three adults globally. One non-coding mechanism that may affect blood pressure regulation and alter hypertension risk in the general population is the disruption of chromatin conformation. CCCTCF-binding factor (CTCF) has many important functions including regulating the conformation of chromatin by binding to specific DNA sequences. Renin has multiple CTCF motifs surrounding the gene and cellular expression of CTCF is critical for proper Renin expression. Using CRISPR-Cas9 in the Dahl salt-sensitive (SS) rat, we have developed three mutant rat models with one or more mutations to the CTCF motif surrounding the Renin gene. CTCF binding was confirmed to be disrupted in all three models at the CRISPR-targeted locations. Plasma renin activity (PRA) was measured in wild-type (WT) and mutant rats fed a 0.1%, 0.4% or 4.0% NaCl diet for four days. PRA in WT males responded as expected to dietary NaCl (17.52±0.81, 12.87±1.00, and 7.13±0.19 ng/mL; p<0.05 for 0.1% and 4.0% vs. 0.4%). Interestingly, two of our male mutant models failed to increase their PRA on the 0.1% NaCl diet (CTCF1=13.87±0.86; CTCF2=13.95±0.59; p<0.05 compared to WT 0.1% NaCl). Despite this, no differences in Renin mRNA were detected. We hypothesize Renin transcriptional response to salt depletion is delayed in the mutant models compared to WT. To test this, we developed an ex vivo approach to culture kidney slices and evaluate Renin expression to a variety of stimuli. Kidneys from SS rats fed low salt (LS; 0.4% NaCl) or high salt (HS) diet (4.0% NaCl) for 24 hours were harvested, sliced, and cultured in basal media or media containing increasing salt. Renin expression was examined at 1, 2, 4, 8 and 24 hrs of incubation. Kidney slices from SS rats fed HS that were incubated basal media stimulated Renin expression as soon as 2 hrs and continued to increase until 8 hrs. This was the first time for establishing an ex vivo approach for motoring the dynamic changes in Renin expression in response to a stimulus by culturing kidney slices. This method could be used to evaluate other stimuli, such as therapeutics, and could decrease the number of animals needed for a study. Funded by NIH 1HL149620. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.