Expression data from female rat kidney: pathophysiology of proteinuria

This study was designed to investigate gene expression in kidneys of adult female Sabra rats (SBH/y and SBN/y rat strains) with two indwelling kidneys or after uni-ninephrectomy, seeking those genes that are differentially expressed between the two strains, and between animals with one or two kidneys. SBH/y after uninephrectomy develop proteinuria to a much greater extent than SBN/y. The study was performed as part of an overall effort to detect the genes that are associated with the pathophysiology of proteinuria. Keywords: Analysis of genes that are differentially expressed in the kidneys, contrasting between an animal strain that tends to develop proteinuria which is amplified by uninephrectomy and another strain that is relatively resistant to the development of proteinuria The experiment was performed in female animals after weaning. Four groups were studied: SBN/y with 2 kidneys (sham uni-nephrectomy), SBN/y after uni-nephrectomy, SBH/y with 2 kidneys (sham uninephrectomy) and SBH/y after uni-nephrectomy. Animals were provided rat chow ad libitum. At age 5 months, 4 months after uninephrectomy or sham operation, animals were sacrificed under ether anesthesia, killed by exsanguination and the kidneys were rapidly removed and snap frozen with liquid nitrogen. The kidneys were stored at -800C until RNA was extracted for the differential expression experiment.