intravenous administration of mesenchymal stream cells modulates renal lipid metabolism in rats

Abstract

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have been shown to attenuate renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rodents. Still, the mechanisms of such a nephroprotection remain unclear. Here, rats were intravenously infused with MSC (1.5x10^6 cells in 1 ml saline; MSCD-7 group, n=6) or equivalent volume of saline (SD-7 group, n=6) 7 days before kidney sampling. High-throughput RNA sequencing technology was used to compare transcriptomic renal profiles, using TopHat and Cufflinks open-source software tools. A total of 494 and 256 genes were found to be significantly (q-value CD36 – a key regulator of membrane uptake of FA – was increased in MSCD-7 kidneys, with a preferential localization in proximal tubules (PT). As a whole, our data suggest that MSC infusion causes critical modifications of lipid metabolism, including (i) down-regulation of FA biosynthesis; (ii) activation of PPAR alpha pathway, and (iii) prioritization of FA as sources of energy in PT cells, which may eventually prevent lipid peroxidation and attenuate renal I/R damage