FIG. 1.

Systemic injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) caused a marked increase of (A) serum creatinine levels and (B) albuminuria (expressed as albumin to creatinine ratio) in Lyst-mice (lysosomal [LYS]-LPS) compared with untreated Lyst-mice (LYS-CON) and LPS-treated wild-type (WT) mice (WT-LPS). Lyst-mice (LYS-CON) had slightly higher urinary albumin excretion under basal conditions and significantly higher albuminuria after LPS treatment compared with WT mice (WT-LPS). (C) Representative hematoxylin-and-eosin-stained kidney sections demonstrating damage differences pattern in corticomedullary areas of the LPS-treated animals. Proximal tubules of WT control mice (WT-CON) are lined by normal epithelial cells. LPS-treated WT mice (WT-LPS) showed swollen epithelial cells with focal desquamation, while LPS-treated Lyst-mice (LYS-LPS) presented marked swelling of the epithelial cells, desquamation, and focal necrosis of the epithelium. Magnification 100×. (D) Tubular injury scores were determined using scoring system, where 0=none, 0.5=minimal, 1=mild, 1.5=moderate, and 2=marked. Animals were injected with 5 mg/kg of LPS in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) vehicle or vehicle only, and sacrificed after 24 h. Data are means±SEM, *p<0.05, **p<0.01, n=8–9 per group. To see this illustration in color, the reader is referred to the web version of this article at www.liebertpub.com/ars