Does injection of metanephric mesenchymal cells improve renal function in rats?

• Published in: Saudi journal of kidney diseases and transplantation 2011-05, Vol.22 (3), p.501-510
• Main Authors: Jiao, Yu-qing, Yi, Zhe Wen, He, Xiao-jie, Liu, Xi-hong, He, Qing-nan, Huang, Dan-lin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Care and treatment; Cell Differentiation; Cells, Cultured; Chronic kidney failure; Diseases; Doxorubicin; Female; Glomerular Filtration Rate; Keratin-18 - metabolism; Kidney - physiopathology; Kidney Diseases - chemically induced; Kidney Diseases - metabolism; Kidney Diseases - physiopathology; Kidney Diseases - therapy; Kidneys; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells - physiology; Models, Animal; Phenotype; Rats; Rats as laboratory animals; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptors, Calcitriol - metabolism; Stem cells; Transplantation; Treatment; الأدوية المضادة للأورام; الأمراض; الجرذان; الخلايا الجذعية; الخلايا الجذعية الوسيطة; الفحوصات الطبية; الفشل الكلوي; الكلى; حيوانات المختبر; علم المداواة; وظائف الكلى
• ISSN: 1319-2442; 2320-3838

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a massive global health-care problem. Cell therapy offers a potential treatment for CKD. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the administration of a population of stem cells could be used to treat Adriamycin (ADR)-induced glomerulopathy in rats, a form of CKD. We intravenously transplanted met nephric mesenchyme cells (MMCs) into rats treated with ADR. We also induced MMC differentiation in vitro using a medium derived from serum and homogenates of ADR-induced glomerulopathy rats. We detected the induction of an early epithelial phenotype (cytokeratin-18 expression) and a proximal tubule phenotype (vitamin D receptor expression) in vitro, and MMC-derived epithelial cells corresponding to the proximal tubule and glomeruli in vivo. Transplantation of MMCs after induction of glomerulopathy significantly increased the cretonne clearance rate (Ccr), a marker for glomerular filtration rate, but had no significant effect on other parameters (24-hour urinary protein excretion, serum albumin, and total cholesterol). In addition, there was no significant difference in blood urea nitrogen or serum cretonne levels in rats with and without ADR administration. Our results indicate that MMCs might survive, engraft and differentiate into renal epithelia in vivo when transplanted into ADR-treated rats. However, further studies are needed to determine whether MMC transplantation improves renal function and causes renal repair in this model.