Renal expression of metallothionein in rats treated with cadmium

Autor: Yoshio Terada, Yong Gu, Fumiaki Marumo, Tomoki Asai, Takashi Akiba, Tomoko Ota, Michio Kuwahara
Rok vydání: 2002
Předmět:
Zdroj: Clinical and Experimental Nephrology. 6:79-84
ISSN: 1437-7799
1342-1751
DOI: 10.1007/s101570200013
Popis: Background. The intrarenal localization of metallothionein (MT) expression has not been studied in detail. Therefore, we investigated the effects of acute exposure to cadmium on the renal expression of MT. Methods. MT mRNA expression was estimated quantitatively at 2, 6, 24, and 72 h after the injection of cadmium (1 mg/kg) to the intraperitoneum of male Sprague-Dawley rats. The site of cadmium-induced MT mRNA expression was determined, by the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), using microdissected tubules. Immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry were also performed, to determine the localization of MT protein. Results. The mRNAs of MT-I and MT-II were significantly upregulated at 2 h and peaked at 24 and 6 h, respectively. RT-PCR revealed the expression of cadmium-induced MT mRNA mainly in the proximal tubules. Immunoblotting detected a clear 14-kDa band corresponding to MT protein, and immunohistochemistry showed abundant MT protein in the renal cortices of cadmium-treated rats. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that the proximal tubules are responsible for the cadmium-induced renal expression of MT mRNA and protein.
Databáze: OpenAIRE