Excessive Oxidative Stress Contributes to Increased Acute ER Stress Kidney Injury in Aged Mice

Figure 5

Prevention of ER stress renal injury in old mice by antioxidants. NAC or BHA treatment blocked high dose of tunicamycin-induced elevation (0.8 μg/g) of BUN (a) and Scr (b). Histologically, while severe renal injury characterized by sloughing of tubular cells (arrow) was frequently seen in old mice that received tunicamycin alone (c), NAC treatment resulted in a partial protection against tunicamycin-induced renal injury in old mice (d). There is no tubular cell sloughing, but vacuolation and nuclear damage (arrow) were seen in NAC-treated mice (d). BHA treatment gave a nearly complete protection, and renal histology was essentially normal in this group (e). Morphometry quantitation of the injured area in the renal cortex revealed a significant reduction in ER stress renal injury by antioxidants, and the effect was especially prominent by BHA (f). Counting the number of TUNEL-positive cells in kidney sections showed that BHA and NAC decreased tunicamycin-induced apoptotic cell death (g). vs. old mice that received tunicamycin alone (O/tu) and vs. NAC-treated mice. Scale .

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