Responsiveness of afferent renal nerve units in renovascular hypertension in rats

Figures

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  Fig. 1. a Relative proportion of tonic (highly active) and phasic (more silent) afferent DRG neurons in samples from clipped and non-clipped kidneys of hypertensive 2K1C rats and normotensive controls. Proportions of tonic neurons from non-clipped hypertensive 2K1C vs. normotensive control kidneys were not different. However, neurons with axons from the clipped kidneys exhibited a significantly lower portion of tonic neurons. This distribution was significantly altered when clipped 2K1C kidneys were denervated 7 days before harvesting the neurons for cell culture: the number of tonic neurons increased significantly. *p < 0.001 (z-test) tonic clipped vs. tonic non-clipped; #p < 0.001 (z-test) tonic control vs. tonic clipped; p < 0.001 (z-test) tonic clipped vs. tonic clipped denervated; §p = 0.638 (z-test) tonic control vs. tonic non-clipped. b Frequency of APs of renal tonic neurons from normotensive controls and non-clipped, clipped, and clipped denervated 2K1C rats. Frequency of APs from clipped denervated kidneys was significantly lower as compared to control (clipped denervated vs. all other groups, *p = 0.010, normality test failed, ANOVA of ranks, all pairwise)

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  Fig. 2. Relative proportion of tonic and phasic neurons in samples from rats with mesangioproliferative (anti-Thy1.1) nephritis and controls. In samples of renal neurons from nephritic rats, a significantly decreased number of neurons with tonic response pattern was found (*p < 0.001 (z-test) tonic control vs. tonic nephritic)

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  Fig. 3. Alteration macrophages in the clipped and non-clipped kidneys of 2K1C rats and controls determined by immuno-histochemistry. Interstitials (upper panel) and glomerular macrophages (lower panel) were significantly increased in the kidneys from renovascular hypertension as compared to controls. n = 6, (*p < 0.05). Upper panel: interstitial macrophages (in cells/glomerular section; control vs. clipped (#) vs. non- clipped (*). n = 6 per group, #p = 0.016 and *p = 0.001; normality test failed, ANOVA of ranks, all pairwise). Lower panel: glomerular macrophages (in cells/glomerular section, control vs. clipped (#) vs. non- clipped (*). n = 6 per group, #p = 0.002 and *p = 0.039, normality test passed, one-way ANOVA, all pairwise)

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  Fig. 4. Alterations of renal macrophages in mesangioproliferative (anti-Thy1.1) nephritis and controls determined by immunohistochemistry. Interstitial (upper panel) and glomerular macrophages (lower panel) were significantly increased in nephritic kidneys as compared to controls. Upper panel: interstitial macrophages (in cells/glomerular section, control vs. anti-Thy1.1 (*). n = 6 per group, *p = 0.001, normality test passed, one-way ANOVA, all pairwise). Lower panel: glomerular macrophages (in cells/glomerular section, control vs. anti-Thy1.1 (*). n = 6 per group, *p = 0.004, normality test failed, ANOVA of ranks, all pairwise)

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  Fig. 5. Upper panel: alteration of the fibrosis marker collagen IV in kidneys from 2K1C rats. In 2K1C rats, no significant difference between clipped and non-clipped kidneys occurred (control vs. clipped (#) vs. non-clipped (*). n = 6 per group, #p = 0.049 and *p = 0.001, normality test failed, ANOVA of ranks, all pairwise). Lower panel: increase of fibrosis marker in rats with anti-Thy1.1 nephritis (control vs. anti-Thy1.1 (*). n = 6 per group, *p = 0.001, normality test passed, one-way ANOVA, all pairwise)