Administration of mesenchymal stromal cells before renal ischemia/reperfusion attenuates kidney injury and modulates renal lipid metabolism in rats

peer reviewedBackground: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have been demonstrated to attenuate renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) damage in rodents. The mecha- nisms of such nephroprotection remain unclear. Materials and Methods: Male Lewis rats aged of 8–10 weeks received tail i.v injection of 1.5x106 MSC in 1 mL saline (MSCD-7, n = 11) or saline alone (SD- 7, n = 6) 7 days before renal I/R. Left renal ischemia (by clamping the renal pedicle) lasted 45 min. Right nephrectomy was simultaneously performed. Blood sample was collected from inferior vena cava 48 h post reperfusion. Renal function was assessed by measuring serum creatinine (SCr) levels. Expressions of inflammatory and apoptotic markers by real-time (RT)-qPCR were comparatively quantified. High-throughput RNA sequencing was applied to MSCD-7 vs. SD-7 non-ischemic right kidneys. Relevant pathways were detected using an Over-Representation Analysis with WebGestalt, and confirmed by RT-qPCR. Results: Scr levels reached 1.4 ` 0.7 vs. 2.4 ` 0.8 mg/dL in MSCD-7 vs. SD-7 group (p < 0.05). MSC infusion significantly reduced mRNA expression of Casp3, Hsp 70, Kim-1, Mcp-1 and Il-6 and increased mRNA expression of Bcl compared to saline. Among 25 908 genes, 748 were identified as significantly differentially expressed (False Discovery Rate (FDR),