Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor α1 promotes calpain-1 activation and macrophage inflammation in hypercholesterolemic nephropathy.

ABSTRACT: The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor α1 (nAChRα1) was investigated as a potential proinflammatory molecule in the kidney, given a recent report that it is an alternative urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) receptor, in addition to the classical receptor uPAR. Two animal models and in vitro monocyte studies were involved: (1) In an ApoE(-/-) mouse model of chronic kidney disease, glomerular-resident cells and monocytes/macrophages were identified as the primary cell types that express nAChRα1 during hypercholesterolemia/uninephrectomy-induced nephropathy. Silencing of the nAChRα1 gene for 4 months (6 months on Western diet) prevented the increases in renal monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and osteopontin expression levels and F4/80+ macrophage infiltration compared with the nonsilenced

SUBMITTER: Zhang G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3188436 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature