The role of renal tubular epithelial cells in cadmium-induced renal fibrosis

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the role of renal tubular epithelial cells in cadmium-induced renal fibrosis. Methods: Established a sub-chronic cadmium exposure mouse model and analyzed the progress of renal fibrosis induced by cadmium exposure through Masson staining and immunohistochemistry, and then a co-culture system of renal tubular epithelial cells and renal fibroblasts was established, the levels of proliferation and activation of renal fibroblasts were detected by Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting. Results: Sub-chronic cadmium exposure led to weight loss in mice (P<0.05) , and the levels of β-microglobulin (β-MG) and N-acetyl β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) in urine were increased in mice exposed to cadmium (P<0.05) ; pathological analysis revealed that sub-chronic cadmium exposure damaged renal tubular structure, causing infiltration of inflammatory cells and deposition of collagen fiber by Masson (P<0.05) , which in turn induced kidney fibrosis in mice; the results of in vitro co-culture experiments showed that cadmium-exposed renal tubular epithelial cells accelerated the synthesis of collagen in renal fibroblasts and promoted the proliferation and activation of renal fibroblasts (P<0.05) . Conclusion: In the progression of cadmium-induced renal fibrosis, a deleterious renal epithelial-fibroblast cross talk was formed, which may be one of the important mechanisms of cadmium-induced renal fibrosis.