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NDT Advance Access originally published online on May 25, 2008
Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 2008 23(11):3464-3471; doi:10.1093/ndt/gfn290
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© The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org


CRBP-I in the renal tubulointerstitial compartment of healthy rats and rats with renal fibrosis

Katrien Van Beneden1, Leo A. van Grunsven2, Caroline Geers3, Marina Pauwels1, Alexis Desmoulière4, Dierik Verbeelen5, Albert Geerts2 and Christiane Van den Branden1

1 Department of Human Anatomy 2 Department of Cell Biology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel 3 Department of Pathology, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Brussels, Belgium 4 Faculty of Pharmacy, Université de Limoges, Limoges, France 5 Department of Nephrology, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

Correspondence and offprint requests to: Katrien Van Beneden, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Menselijke Anatomie, Laarbeeklaan 103, B-1090 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: +32-2-4774415; Fax: +32-2-4774223; E-mail: Katrien.Van.Beneden{at}vub.ac.be



  Abstract

Background. Cellular retinol-binding protein I (CRBP-I), a member of the intracellular lipid-binding protein (iLBP) superfamily, is a specific marker of quiescent stellate cells in the healthy human liver. In the diseased fibrotic/cirrhotic liver, portal and septal myofibroblasts acquire CRBP-I expression, while activated hepatic stellate cells maintain their CRBP-I expression. Here, we investigate the distribution of CRBP-I in the renal cortex of healthy rats and rats with renal fibrosis.

Methods. Kidneys of healthy and adriamycin-treated rats were studied by immunohistochemistry, using antibodies against CRBP-I, desmin, vimentin and {alpha}-smooth muscle actin ({alpha}-SMA). Double stainings were done with immunofluorescence. Western blotting was performed to semi-quantify the expression levels of vimentin, desmin, {alpha}-SMA and CRBP-I.

Results. In the normal rat kidney, the convoluted proximal tubular epithelial cells express CRBP-I; no expression is found in the interstitium, nor in the glomeruli. In the adriamycin-induced fibrotic rat kidney, CRBP-I expression diminishes in the convoluted proximal tubular epithelial cells, whereas peritubular myofibroblasts in the interstitium acquire CRBP-I expression.

Conclusions. In the tubulointerstitial compartment of the adriamycin-induced fibrotic rat kidney, CRBP-I is expressed in a different pattern than in the healthy rat kidney. As the convoluted proximal tubular epithelial cells dedifferentiate during fibrosis, CRBP-I expression decreases. Furthermore, de novo expression of CRBP-I is found in activated myofibroblast-like cells in the interstitium of adriamycin-treated rats. CRBP-I is therefore a useful marker to identify a subpopulation of activated/ myodifferentiated fibroblasts in the rat kidney.

Keywords: CRBP-I; dedifferentiation; myofibroblast; renal fibrosis; tubulointerstitium

Received for publication: 3. 8.07
Accepted in revised form: 24. 4.08


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