Figure 1.

Adipolin-deficiency leads to exacerbation of albuminuria and tubulointerstitial fibrosis after renal ablation

(A) Urine and plasma parameters of renal function in wild-type (WT) and adipolin knockout (APL-KO) mice after subtotal nephrectomy or sham operation. Left panel shows urinary albumin excretion normalized to urinary Cr. Center and right panels show plasma concentration of UN and Cr. Sham WT group; N = 6, sham APL-KO group; N = 6, nephrectomy WT group; N = 7, nephrectomy APL-KO group; N = 7.

(B) Histological evaluation of interstitial fibrosis. Left panels show representative photos of the kidneys from WT and APL-KO mice after subtotal nephrectomy or sham operation as determined by Masson Trichrome staining. Right panel shows quantitative analysis of fibrosis area as measured by ImageJ. N = 6 in each group. Scale bars show 100 μm.

(C) mRNA levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α, interleukin (IL) 6, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP) 1 and F4/80 in the kidney in WT and APL-KO mice after subtotal nephrectomy or sham operation. N = 6 in each group.

(D) mRNA levels of inflammasome-related genes (NLRP3, Caspase 1, IL1β and IL18) in the kidney in WT and APL-KO mice after subtotal nephrectomy or sham operation. N = 6 in each group.

(E) mRNA levels of oxidative stress markers (gp91^phox, p47^phox, p67^phox and p22^phox) in the kidney in WT and APL-KO mice after subtotal nephrectomy or sham operation. N = 6 in each group.One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test ((A) (urine albumin and plasma UN), (C) (TNFα, IL6 and F4/80), (D) (NLRP3, Caspase 1 and IL18) and Steel-Dwass test ((A) (plasma Cr), (B, C) (MCP1), (D) (IL1β) (E) (p67^phox)) were used to produce the p values. N.S, not significant.