Fasudil prevents calcium oxalate crystal deposit and renal fibrogenesis in glyoxylate-induced nephrolithic mice

Long non-coding RNA CHCHD4P4 promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition and inhibits cell proliferation in calcium oxalate-induced kidney damage

“…We established an experimental mouse model of calcium oxalate-induced kidney damage by intraperitoneally injecting C57BL/6J mice (age: 8 weeks, weight: 26–30 g) with glyoxylate (100 mg/kg) for 5 days as described previously ( 5 ). The control animals were intraperitoneally injected with 0.9% NaCl for 5 days.…”

“…The von Kossa method for quantifying calcium crystal formation and deposition was performed as described previously ( 5 ).…”

“…Immunohistochemistry was performed as described previously ( 5 ). For the immunofluorescence, the cells were fixed on coverslips using ice-cold 4% paraformaldehyde for 30 min, followed by three washes with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS).…”

“…Kidney stones are associated with a significant loss of kidney function and are frequently accompanied by interstitial fibrosis, which is a common result of various kidney diseases ( 3 , 4 ). In our previous study, we found that the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) occurred in a mouse model injected with glyoxylate ( 5 ). Several other studies have also suggested that kidney fibrosis was caused by the transition of renal epithelial cells to mesenchymal cells, which is a phenomenon related to cell proliferation.…”

“…Additionally, they proved that the treatment of an obstructed kidney with lncRNA-Arid2-IR shRNA blunted the NF-κB-driven renal inflammation without any effect on the TGF-β/Smad3-mediated renal fibrosis ( 10 ). Our previous studies have shown that EMT appears in tubular epithelial cells during the early period of kidney stone formation in a crystalline kidney injury, which initiates the process of renal fibrosis ( 5 ). Long non-coding RNAs can play a regulatory role in the development of EMT, but it is unknown whether lncRNAs are involved with or influence EMT in tubular epithelial cells when induced by crystallization; we hypothesized that EMT might be influenced by lncRNAs in human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (HK-2) in vitro .…”