Several lines of evidence suggest that essential hypertension originates from an autoimmune-mediated mechanism. One consequence of chronic immune activation is the generation of oxygen-derived free radicals, resulting in oxidative stress. Renal oxidative stress has direct pro-hypertensive actions on renal microvascular and tubular function. Whether oxidative stress contributes to the prevalent hypertension associated with autoimmune disease is not clear. We previously showed that female NZBWF1 mice, an established model of the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), develop hypertension associated with renal oxidative stress. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that oxidative stress contributes to autoimmune-mediated hypertension by treating SLE and control (NZW/LacJ) mice with tempol (2 mM) and apocynin (1.5 mM) in the drinking water for 4 weeks (T+A). Although the treatment did not alter SLE disease activity (assessed by plasma double-stranded DNA autoantibodies), blood pressure and renal injury (urinary albumin) were reduced in the treated SLE mice. T+A-treated SLE mice had reduced expression of nitrosylated proteins in the renal cortex, as well as reduced urinary and renal cortical hydrogen peroxide, suggesting that treatment reduced renal markers of oxidative stress. These data suggest that renal oxidative stress plays an important mechanistic role in the development of autoimmune-mediated hypertension.

We hypothesized that chronic specific endothelin (ET)-A receptor blockade therapy would reverse renal dysfunction and injury in advanced experimental renovascular disease. To test this, unilateral renovascular disease was induced in 19 pigs and after 6 weeks, single-kidney hemodynamics and function was quantified in vivo using computed-tomography. All pigs with renovascular disease were divided such that 7 were untreated, 7 were treated with ET-A blockers, and 5 were treated with ET-B blockers. Four weeks later, all pigs were re-studied in vivo, then euthanized and ex vivo studies performed on the stenotic kidney to quantify microvascular density, remodeling, renal oxidative stress, inflammation, and fibrosis. RBF, GFR, and redox status were significantly improved in the stenotic kidney after ET-A but not ET-B blockade. Furthermore, only ET-A blockade therapy reversed renal microvascular rarefaction and diminished remodeling, which was accompanied by a marked decreased in renal inflammatory and fibrogenic activity. Thus, ET-A but not ET-B blockade ameliorated renal injury in pigs with advanced renovascular disease by stimulating microvascular proliferation and decreasing the progression of microvascular remodeling, renal inflammation and fibrosis in the stenotic kidney. These effects were functionally consequential since ET-A blockade improved single kidney microvascular endothelial function, RBF, and GFR, and decreased albuminuria.

Background Neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions containing TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) are a neuropathological feature of several neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Emerging evidence also indicates that systemic inflammation may be a contributor to the pathology progression of these neurodegenerative diseases. Methods To investigate the role of systemic inflammation in the progression of neuronal TDP-43 pathology, AAV9 particles driven by the UCHL1 promoter were delivered to the frontal cortex of wild-type aged mice via intracranial injections to overexpress TDP-43 or green fluorescent protein (GFP) in corticospinal motor neurons. Animals were then subjected to a low-dose (500 μg/kg) intraperitoneal E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration challenge for 2 weeks to mimic a chronically altered low-grade systemic inflammatory state. Mice were then subjected to neurobehavioral studies, followed by biochemical and immunohistochemical analyses of the brain tissue. Results In the present study, we report that elevated neuronal TDP-43 levels induced microglial and astrocytic activation in the cortex of injected mice followed by increased RANTES signaling. Moreover, overexpression of TDP-43 exerted abundant mouse immunoglobulin G (IgG), CD3, and CD4+ T cell infiltration as well as endothelial and pericyte activation suggesting increased blood-brain barrier permeability. The BBB permeability in TDP-43 overexpressing brains yielded the frontal cortex vulnerable to the systemic inflammatory response following LPS treatment, leading to marked neutrophil infiltration, neuronal loss, reduced synaptosome-associated protein 25 (SNAP-25) levels, and behavioral impairments in the radial arm water maze (RAWM) task. Conclusions These results reveal a novel role for TDP-43 in BBB permeability and leukocyte recruitment, indicating complex intermolecular interactions between an altered systemic inflammatory state and pathologically prone TDP-43 protein to promote disease progression.

Percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty/stenting (PTRAS) is frequently used to treat renal artery stenosis and renovascular disease (RVD); however, renal function is restored in less than one half of the cases. This study was designed to test a novel intervention that could refine PTRAS and enhance renal recovery in RVD. Renal function was quantified in pigs after 6 weeks of chronic RVD (induced by unilateral renal artery stenosis), established renal damage, and hypertension. Pigs with RVD then underwent PTRAS and were randomized into three groups: placebo (RVD+PTRAS), chronic endothelin-A receptor (ET-A) blockade (RVD+PTRAS+ET-A), and chronic dual ET-A/B blockade (RVD+PTRAS+ET-A/B) for 4 weeks. Renal function was again evaluated after treatments, and then, ex vivo studies were performed on the stented kidney. PTRAS resolved renal stenosis, attenuated hypertension, and improved renal function but did not resolve renal microvascular rarefaction, remodeling, or renal fibrosis. ET-A blocker therapy after PTRAS significantly improved hypertension, microvascular rarefaction, and renal injury and led to greater recovery of renal function. Conversely, combined ET-A/B blockade therapy blunted the therapeutic effects of PTRAS alone or PTRAS followed by ET-A blockade. These data suggest that ET-A receptor blockade therapy could serve as a coadjuvant intervention to enhance the outcomes of PTRAS in RVD. These results also suggest that ET-B receptors are important for renal function in RVD and may contribute to recovery after PTRAS. Using clinically available compounds and techniques, our results could contribute to both refinement and design of new therapeutic strategies in chronic RVD. Chronic renovascular disease (RVD) increases the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and may progressively induce renal injury, leading to ESRD. 1 Percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty/stenting (PTRAS) is a frequently used therapeutic strategy to treat patients with chronic RVD. Targeting the renal stenosis is a logical choice for treating RVD, because the resolution of the vascular obstruction followed by restoration of blood flow to the site of injured tissues should play an important role to initiate successful repairing responses. The use of PTRAS in RVD grew significantly during the past 20 years, 2 with tremendous progress in successfully resolving renal stenosis and restoring blood flow (.95% of the cases). 3 However, despite the high technical success of PTRAS, improvement in renal function is still observed in a relatively small portion of the cases. 4 The reasons for the persistent poor outcomes after PTRAS in RVD are still unclear. Furthermore, the dissociation between the technical success of PTRAS and renal outcomes underscores a pressing need to identify more effective therapeutic strategies in RVD.Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a powerful renal vasoconstrictor and mitogenic peptide that plays important roles in controlling BP and renal function.

Stewart N, Chade AR. Renoprotective effects of hepatocyte growth factor in the stenotic kidney. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 304: F625-F633, 2013. First published December 26, 2012 doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00504.2012 damage and loss contribute to the progression of renal injury in renal artery stenosis (RAS). Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a powerful angiogenic and antifibrotic cytokine that we showed to be decreased in the stenotic kidney. We hypothesized that renal HGF therapy will improve renal function mainly by protecting the renal microcirculation. Unilateral RAS was induced in 15 pigs. Six weeks later, single-kidney RBF and GFR were quantified in vivo using multidetector computed tomography (CT). Then, intrarenal rh-HGF or vehicle was randomly administered into the stenotic kidney (RAS, n ϭ 8; RASϩHGF, n ϭ 7). Pigs were observed for 4 additional weeks before CT studies were repeated. Renal MV density was quantified by 3D micro-CT ex vivo and histology, and expression of angiogenic and inflammatory factors, apoptosis, and fibrosis was determined. HGF therapy improved RBF and GFR compared with vehicle-treated pigs. This was accompanied by improved renal expression of angiogenic cytokines (VEGF, p-Akt) and tissue-healing promoters (SDF-1, CXCR4, MMP-9), reduced MV remodeling, apoptosis, and fibrosis, and attenuated renal inflammation. However, HGF therapy did not improve renal MV density, which was similarly reduced in RAS and RASϩHGF compared with controls. Using a clinically relevant animal model of RAS, we showed novel therapeutic effects of a targeted renal intervention. Our results show distinct actions on the existing renal microcirculation and promising renoprotective effects of HGF therapy in RAS. Furthermore, these effects imply plasticity of the stenotic kidney to recuperate its function and underscore the importance of MV integrity in the progression of renal injury in RAS. kidney; HGF; renal artery stenosis; microcirculation; remodeling; imaging MICROVASCULAR (MV) dysfunction, damage, and/or rarefaction are often observed in target organs during the progression of hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. In turn, evidence supports a central pathophysiological role for MV dysfunction and damage in promoting cardiovascular diseaseinduced organ injury (29), underscoring a cause-effect relationship between MV disease and the pathophysiology of organ damage. In the kidney, glomerular and peritubular MV damage and loss have been linked to renal functional impairment and progression of renal damage in chronic renal disease (irrespective of the etiology) (17) and renal graft function (41). Indeed, renal MV disease is an important contributor to the progression of renal injury (23,40) and an important determinant of whether treatments are effective (7).Almost 15% of patients with renal artery stenosis (RAS) develop intractable hypertension or progressive loss of kidney function (15). RAS is the main cause of chronic renovascular disease (RVD), a disorder capable of inducing severe, progressive, a...

Possibly by inducing a pro-survival renal microenvironment, macitentan increased renal microvascular density, promoted cell survival and decreased injury, which in turn improved stenotic kidney hemodynamics in our model. Our results further support the safety of using macitentan in patients with concomitant chronic renal disease and supported the feasibility of a new strategy that may preserve the stenotic kidney in RVD.

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Experimental and clinical studies suggest that the damage of the renal microvascular function and architecture may participate in the early steps of renal injury in chronic renal disease, irrespective of the cause. This supporting evidence has provided the impetus to targeting the renal microvasculature as an attempt to interfere with the progressive nature of the disease process. Chronic renovascular disease is often associated with renal microvascular dysfunction, damage, loss, and defective renal angiogenesis associated with progressive renal dysfunction and damage. It is possible that damage of the renal microvasculature in renovascular disease constitutes an initiating event for renal injury and contributes towards progressive and later on irreversible renal injury. Recent studies have suggested that protection of the renal microcirculation can slow or halt the progression of renal injury in this disease. This brief review will focus on the therapeutic potential and feasibility of using angiogenic cytokines to protect the kidney microvasculature in chronic renovascular disease. There is limited but provocative evidence showing that stimulation of vascular proliferation and repair using vascular endothelial growth factor or hepatocyte growth factor can slow the progression of renal damage, stabilize renal function, and protect the renal parenchyma. Such interventions may potentially constitute a sole strategy to preserve renal function and/or a co-adjuvant tool to improve the success of current therapeutic approaches in renovascular disease.