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Mitochondrial and NAD+ metabolism predict recovery from acute kidney injury in a diverse mouse population
Jean-David Morel, … , Shannon Mullican, Johan Auwerx
Jean-David Morel, … , Shannon Mullican, Johan Auwerx
Published February 8, 2023
Citation Information: JCI Insight. 2023;8(3):e164626. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.164626.
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Research Article Nephrology

Mitochondrial and NAD+ metabolism predict recovery from acute kidney injury in a diverse mouse population

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Abstract

Acute kidney failure and chronic kidney disease are global health issues steadily rising in incidence and prevalence. Animal models on a single genetic background have so far failed to recapitulate the clinical presentation of human nephropathies. Here, we used a simple model of folic acid–induced kidney injury in 7 highly diverse mouse strains. We measured plasma and urine parameters, as well as renal histopathology and mRNA expression data, at 1, 2, and 6 weeks after injury, covering the early recovery and long-term remission. We observed an extensive strain-specific response ranging from complete resistance of the CAST/EiJ to high sensitivity of the C57BL/6J, DBA/2J, and PWK/PhJ strains. In susceptible strains, the severe early kidney injury was accompanied by the induction of mitochondrial stress response (MSR) genes and the attenuation of NAD+ synthesis pathways. This is associated with delayed healing and a prolonged inflammatory and adaptive immune response 6 weeks after insult, heralding a transition to chronic kidney disease. Through a thorough comparison of the transcriptomic response in mouse and human disease, we show that critical metabolic gene alterations were shared across species, and we highlight the PWK/PhJ strain as an emergent model of transition from acute kidney injury to chronic disease.

Authors

Jean-David Morel, Maroun Bou Sleiman, Terytty Yang Li, Giacomo von Alvensleben, Alexis M. Bachmann, Dina Hofer, Ellen Broeckx, Jing Ying Ma, Vinicius Carreira, Tao Chen, Nabil Azhar, Romer A. Gonzalez-Villalobos, Matthew Breyer, Dermot Reilly, Shannon Mullican, Johan Auwerx

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Figure 6

Transcripts of NAD+ biosynthesis are downregulated, while those of NAD+ consumption increase in susceptible strains, and this is reflected by changes in NAD+ levels and disease severity.

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Transcripts of NAD+ biosynthesis are downregulated, while those of NAD+ ...
(A–C) Box plot of RNA-Seq–based gene expression of NAD+ de novo synthesis (A), NAD+ salvage (B), and NAD+ consumption (C) genes in the 3 most stereotypical strains after 1 week of folic acid administration. Other strains are summarized on Supplemental Figure 6. While the CAST/EiJ strain undergoes little variation upon FA treatment, in the PWK/PhJ and to a lesser extent in the C57BL/6J strain, there was a marked reduction in transcript expression of NAD+ biosynthesis accompanied by an increase in transcripts of the NAD+ consumers, Cd38 and Parp1, while Sirt1 underwent little variation. The box plot lower and upper hinges correspond to the first and third quartiles, and the center line is the median. The whiskers extend from the hinge to the largest value no further than 1.5× the interquartile range. FDR-adjusted P values are shown (***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05), using moderated 2-tailed t test. (D) Kidney NAD+ levels measured by HPLC-MS. This confirms that the reduction of NAD+ content is strongest in the PWK/PhJ strain and absent in the CAST/EiJ and A/J strains. FDR-adjusted P values are shown (***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05), using moderated 2-tailed t test. (E–J) Correlation between NAD+ levels and blood parameters, blood urea nitrogen (E), TIMP-1 (F), creatinine (G), and the kidney histology scores for fibrosis (H), tubule degeneration (I), and tubule dilation (F). The blue line is a linear fit of the data. Statistics significance is shown with Pearson r and FDR-corrected P values (***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05), using Pearson correlation test, corrected for multiple testing over all possible phenotype comparisons. These correlations and those pictured Supplemental Figure 7 indicate that NAD+ levels may be highly predictive of AKI susceptibility in mice.

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