High-throughput renal transcriptome profiling in mice infected with Leptospira spp.

Leptospirosis is a globally important infectious disease caused by an infection with pathogenic Leptospira spp. and associated with kidney injury due to sustained tubulointerstitial inflammation. We apply the high-throughput Illumina sequencing platforms to determine the murine renal transcriptome and investigate gene expression alterations and biological pathways associated with kidney damage induced by leptospiral infection. The goal of this study is to investigate a global analysis of renal gene expression associated with renal damage that was induced by leptospiral infection in experimental mice models. Overall design: C57BL/6 female mice were inoculated using intraperitoneal challenge with a high infective dose of L. interrogans serovar Copenhageni Fiocruz L1-130 (ATCC number BAA-1198) and L. biflexa serovar Patoc (ATCC number 23582), respectively. The control groups were inoculated with sterile EMJH medium. The mice were sacrificed at 7 days post-infection, and the kidneys were harvested. Total RNA was extracted from kidneys and subjected to high-throughput RNA sequencing analysis (n=3 per each group).