Overcoming refractory massive proteinuria remains a clinical and research issue in diabetic nephropathy. This study was designed to investigate the pathogenesis of massive proteinuria in diabetic nephropathy, with a special focus on podocyte autophagy, a system of intracellular degradation that maintains cell and organelle homeostasis, using human tissue samples and animal models. Insufficient podocyte autophagy was observed histologically in patients and rats with diabetes and massive proteinuria accompanied by podocyte loss, but not in those with no or minimal proteinuria. Podocyte-specific autophagy-deficient mice developed podocyte loss and massive proteinuria in a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced diabetic model for inducing minimal proteinuria. Interestingly, huge damaged lysosomes were found in the podocytes of diabetic rats with massive proteinuria and HFD-fed, podocyte-specific autophagy-deficient mice. Furthermore, stimulation of cultured podocytes with sera from patients and rats with diabetes and massive proteinuria impaired autophagy, resulting in lysosome dysfunction and apoptosis. These results suggest that autophagy plays a pivotal role in maintaining lysosome homeostasis in podocytes under diabetic conditions, and that its impairment is involved in the pathogenesis of podocyte loss, leading to massive proteinuria in diabetic nephropathy. These results may contribute to the development of a new therapeutic strategy for advanced diabetic nephropathy.
Abstract. Numerous reports have demonstrated that oxidative stress induced by diabetes plays an important role in the development and progression of diabetic vascular complications including nephropathy. Indeed, there is emerging evidence that the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a direct consequence of hyperglycemia. Biomarkers for oxidative damage to DNA, lipids, and proteins are also supporting the concept of increased oxidative stress in diabetes and diabetic nephropathy. However, there is an unanswered question: When does oxidative stress as a pathogenetic event occur in the process of diabetic nephropathy? To answer this question, glomerular ROS was imaged with the use of 2', 7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA). The image of DCF fluorescence was strong in glomeruli from diabetic rats as compared with that of glomeruli from nondiabetic control rats. mRNA expression of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, glutathione peroxidase, Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase, and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) was also determined because oxidative stress definitely refers to the situation of an imbalance between the production of ROS and antioxidant defense. The mRNA expression of catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase 2 wk after the induction of diabetes was not significantly different from that in control rats. Alternatively, mRNA and protein expression of HO-1 was strongly induced by 16-fold in diabetic glomeruli after the induction of diabetes. Antioxidant treatment with either vitamin E or probucol almost completely normalized HO-1 overexpression in diabetic glomeruli, supporting the existence of oxidative stress in the glomeruli of early diabetes. Furthermore, It has reported that antioxidant treatment with vitamin E, probucol, ␣-lipoic acid, or taurine normalized diabetes-induced not only renal dysfunction such as albuminuria and glomerular hypertension but also glomerular pathologies. In summary, oxidative stress by diabetes could play a crucial role in the development and progression of diabetic nephropathy, and antioxidant treatment could be a potential therapeutic procedure for diabetic nephropathy.
Kelvin probe force microscopy (KFM) was applied to two-dimensional profiling of silicon pn-structures covered with a 2 nm-thick oxide layer. The surface potential contrast between the p- and n-type regions depended on the hydrophobicity of the oxide surface when KFM imaging was conducted in air with a relative humidity of more than 50%. By decreasing the density of surface hydroxyl groups on the oxide layer through thermal annealing, the potential contrast between the p- and n-type regions increased. While there was no detectable contrast on samples covered with hydrophilic oxide with a water contact angle of almost 0°, contrast increased to greater than 50 mV on the samples covered with hydrophobic oxide with a water contact angle of about 80°. However, when KFM imaging was conducted in a dry nitrogen atmosphere with relative humidity less than 0.6%, a clear potential contrast of about 50 mV could be acquired even on samples covered with the hydrophilic oxide layer. Since samples with less adsorbed water on their surface showed greater potential contrast, contrast degradation is attributed to a shielding effect of the adsorbed water layer.
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