The early activation of toll-like receptor (TLR)-3 initiates kidney injury after ischemia and reperfusion

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 4; p. e94366
• Main Authors: Paulus, Patrick, Rupprecht, Katrin, Baer, Patrick, Obermüller, Nicholas, Penzkofer, Daniela, Reissig, Christin, Scheller, Bertram, Holfeld, Johannes, Zacharowski, Kai, Dimmeler, Stefanie, Schlammes, Joelle, Urbschat, Anja
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01.04.2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Activation; Analysis; Anesthesiology; Animals; Apoptosis; Biology and Life Sciences; Blood; Care and treatment; Complications; Diagnosis; Hospitals; Hypoxia; Immune system; Immunology; Inflammation; Inflammatory response; Injuries; Intensive care; Internal medicine; Ischemia; Kidney - blood supply; Kidney - injuries; Kidney - metabolism; Kidney - pathology; Kidney diseases; Kidney Tubules - blood supply; Kidney Tubules - injuries; Kidney Tubules - metabolism; Kidney Tubules - pathology; Kidneys; Kinases; Laboratory animals; Ligands; Male; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Nephrology; Neutrophils; Nucleotides; Pain; Pathogenesis; Perfusion; Phenotype; Physiology; Proteins; Renal artery; Renal tubules; Reperfusion; Reperfusion Injury - metabolism; Reperfusion Injury - pathology; Reperfusion Injury - physiopathology; Rodents; Signal Transduction; Signaling; Studies; Surgery; Toll-Like Receptor 3 - metabolism; Toll-like receptors; Ultrasonic imaging; Germany
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094366

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most important complications in hospitalized patients and its pathomechanisms are not completely elucidated. We hypothesize that signaling via toll-like receptor (TLR)-3, a receptor that is activated upon binding of double-stranded nucleotides, might play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of AKI following ischemia and reperfusion (IR). Male adult C57Bl6 wild-type (wt) mice and TLR-3 knock-out (-/-) mice were subjected to 30 minutes bilateral selective clamping of the renal artery followed by reperfusion for 30 min 2.5h and 23.5 hours or subjected to sham procedures. TLR-3 down-stream signaling was activated already within 3 h of ischemia and reperfusion in post-ischemic kidneys of wt mice lead to impaired blood perfusion followed by a strong pro-inflammatory response with significant neutrophil invasion. In contrast, this effect was absent in TLR-3-/- mice. Moreover, the quick TLR-3 activation resulted in kidney damage that was histomorphologically associated with significantly increased apoptosis and necrosis rates in renal tubules of wt mice. This finding was confirmed by increased kidney injury marker NGAL in wt mice and a better preserved renal perfusion after IR in TLR-3-/- mice than wt mice. Overall, the absence of TLR-3 is associated with lower cumulative kidney damage and maintained renal blood perfusion within the first 24 hours of reperfusion. Thus, we conclude that TLR-3 seems to participate in the pathogenesis of early acute kidney injury.