The present work has been reported in accordance with the ARRIVE (Animals in Research; Reporting In Vivo Experiments)[7]. All experiments were performed in accordance with the guidelines of the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee of our affiliation.
Animals
Wild type C57BL control male mice (aged 8-12 weeks; 25-30 g) were obtained from the Animal Experimentation Center. C57BL background CD200 gene deficient (CD200−/−) mice were designed from Shanghai Model Organisms Co. Ltd (Shanghai, China). Wild type mice were randomized to either hemorrhage (Hem)/cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) or sham Hem/CLP group. In summary, mice were marked with sequence number and allocated into control or experimental groups. As we had found, there were not any differences of CD200 expression on neutrophils and monocytes, and kidney injury under optical microscope. C57BL background CD200 gene deficient mice were allocated into the Hem/CLP group only. Mice were housed under specific pathogen-free conditions and provided standard laboratory chow and water freely one week before experiment.
Experimental design
The mouse model of AKI was conducted via hemorrhagic shock followed by the induction of CLP to simulate patients with hypovolemia shock followed secondary infection. We used a 90-min and fixed pressure (35 ± 5 mmHg) Hem at the atmosphere of isoflurane, followed by resuscitation with Ringers lactate injection at 4 times drawn blood volume via micro-injection pump. After resuscitation, mice were taken into animal room with standard laboratory chow and water freely. The second challenge of sepsis was inducted via CLP at 24 h post Hem. While the sham Hem/CLP group was done without hypovolemia and cecal ligation and puncture, just exposed and ligated the arterial femoralis as Hem and exposed the enterocoelia as CLP.
Mice were anesthetized at 24 h post Hem/CLP by isoflurane, and sacrificed blood was collected via cardiac puncture using heparinized syringes. Blood was centrifuged, and plasma sample was separated after centrifugation at 3000g for 5 min. The concentrations of IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-10 in plasma were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits according to manufacturer’s instructions (R&D system, USA). To affirm the reproductive results, all experiments were repeated twice.
Flow cytometry analysis
Blood was harvested 24 h post Hem/CLP and single cell suspensions were stained with fluorescence labeled antibody. Antibody information as following: anti-CD11b(APC, code: 17-0041-82; clone: GK-1.5, eBioscience USA); anti-F4/80 (Brilliant violet, code:123131; clone: BM8, Biolegend USA); anti-Ly6G(Vio-Blue, code: 11-0081-85; clone: 53-6.7, eBioscience USA); CD200 (PE, code: 11-0081-85; clone: 53-6.7, eBioscience USA).
Cytokines expression in kidney
Kidneys were harvested 24 h post Hem/CLP and dissolved into protein solution via lysis buffer. Protein level was set at 250μg/ml. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was conducted following manufacture’s introduction. Immune 96 well ELISA plates were used for coating, blocking, detecting and read at subtract 550 nm values from 450 nm values to correct for optical imperfections in the microplate. Use curve-fitting statistical software to plot a four-parameter logistic curve fit to the standards and then calculate results for the test samples.
Histopathology assay
Kidney tissues were harvested 24 h post Hem/CLP. Kidney samples were fixed in 10% buffered paraformaldehyde for at least 24 h. Sections (4-5 μm) on slides were deparaffinized in xylene, rehydrated in decreasing concentrations of ethanol, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). All sections were graded blindly by three pathologists under light with the following score scale:0, none; 1, individual cell necrosis; 2, ≤30% lobular necrosis; 3, ≤60% lobular necrosis; 4, >60% lobular necrosis[8].
Assessment of blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine
Levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (Scr) were measured by automatic dry biochemical analyzer (Hitachi Auto Analyzer 7170, Japan). The levels of BUN and Scr were examined by automatic biochemical analyzer (TC6010 L, Tecom Science Corporation, Jiangxi, China).
RNA isolation and real-time PCR analysis
Total RNA was isolated from the homogenate of the kidney with Trizol reagent (Invitrogen). Cellular RNA was treated with DNase I and then primed with a dT oligonucleotide and reversed transcribed with Superscript II. For real-time assays, PCR reactions were prepared in SYBR Green PCR Master Mix. DNA targets were amplified and analyzed with a Chromo Real-Time PCR Detection System (Bio-Rad Life Sciences). The murine primer sequences are shown as follows: Mouse GAPDH forward sequence:5-CCCCCAATGTGTCCGTCG-3, Reverse sequence: 5- CGGCATCGAAGGTGGAAGA-3; IL-6 forward sequence: 5-GGAGCCCACCAAGAACGAT-3, reverse sequence: 5-TCACCAGCATCAGTCCCAAGA-3; TNF-α forward sequence:5- TCTTCTCATTCCTGCTTGTGG-3, reverse sequence: 5- TTGGTGGTTTGCTACGACG-3.Total RNA was treated with DNase I to eliminate genomic DNA contamination, followed by synthesis of the first-strand using reverse transcription system. Reverse transcription was carried out and GAPDH was used as an internal control as prior study conducted [9]. The relative amount of mRNA was determined using the ΔΔCT technique as described previously[10]. The levels of mRNA were expressed as fold-changes after normalization to GAPDH.
Western-blotting analysis of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and high mobility group 1
Kidneys were carefully excised and homogenized into lysis buffer (Termo, USA) to yield a homogenate. After centrifugation (12000 g for 10 min) at 4°C, protein concentration was detected by Bradford protein assay kit (Termo, USA) with bovine serum albumin as standard. Equal amounts of protein extracts separated discontinuously by 10% polyacrylamide gels (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and transferred to nitrocellulose membranes (Life Technologies). After blockade of nonspecific binding sites, the membranes were incubated with various antibodies against neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) or high mobility group 1 (HMGB1) (Cell Signal Technology, Danvers, MA, USA) for 2h at room temperature. Membranes were developed by chemiluminescence using an Amersham prime ECL Plus detection system (ChemiDoc 600 Imager, Ultra-Violet Product Ltd, UK). Signals were discontinuously assessed and normalized to the GAPDH signals (Image J, NIH).
Statistical analysis
SPSS 19.0 software was used for statistical analysis. The data are expressed as the mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM). Student’s unpaired t-test was used for comparisons between two means. For comparison of multiple ranges, we first measure the homogeneity of variance. When the homogeneity of variance was equal, one-way ANOVA followed by least significant difference (LSD) post homogeneity test was used. When the assumption of homogeneity of variances is not met, Welch’s test was applied and Dunnett T test was used for comparison of pairwise significance. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.