Absence of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ?7 subunit amplifies inflammation and accelerates onset of fibrosis: an inflammatory kidney model.
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ABSTRACT: Inflammation is regulated by endogenous mechanisms, including anti-inflammatory cytokines, adenosine, and the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ?7 subunit (?7nAChR). We investigated the role of ?7nAChR in protection against the progression of tissue injury in a model of severe, macrophage-mediated, cytokine-dependent anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) glomerulonephritis (GN), in ?7nAChR-deficient (?7(-/-)) mice . At d 7 after the injection of anti-GBM antibody, kidneys from ?7(-/-) mice displayed severe glomeruli (P < 0.0001) and tubulointerstitial lesions (P < 0.001) compared to kidneys from WT mice. An important finding was the presence of severe glomerulosclerosis in ?7(-/-) mice in this early phase of the disease. Kidneys of ?7(-/-) mice showed greater accumulation of inflammatory cells and higher expression of chemokines and cytokines than did those of WT mice. In addition, in ?7(-/-) fibrotic kidneys, the expression of fibrin, collagen, TGF-?, and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-2 increased, and the expression of TIMP3 declined. The increase in counterregulatory responses to inflammation in ?7(-/-) nephritic kidneys did not compensate for the lack of ?7nAChR. These findings indicate that ?7nAChR plays a key role in regulating the inflammatory response in anti-GBM GN and that disruption of the endogenous protective ?7nAChR amplifies inflammation to accelerate kidney damage and fibrosis.
SUBMITTER: Truong LD
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4511204 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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