Effects of ischemia reperfusion injury or nephrectomy on mouse lung

Experiments in rodents have shown that kidney ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) facilitates lung injury and inflammation. To identify potential ischemia-specific lung molecular pathways involved, we conducted global gene expression profiling of lung 6 or 36 hours following 1) bilateral kidney IRI, 2) bilateral nephrectomy (BNx), and 3) sham laparotomy in C57BL/6J mice. Total RNA from whole lung was isolated and hybridized to 430MOEA (22,626 genes) GeneChips (n=3/group). Keywords: different time points after different treatments All procedures were approved by the Johns Hopkins Animal Care and Use Committee, and were consistent with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Male 6-8 week-old mice (C57BL6/J), weighing approximately 25-30 grams were obtained from Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME) and housed under pathogen-free conditions according to NIH guidelines at least five days prior to operative procedures. Animals were placed on a heating blanket and underwent midline laparotomy with isolation of bilateral renal pedicles. For mice assigned to experimental ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), a non-traumatic microvascular clamp was applied across both renal pedicles for 60 minutes. After the allotted ischemia time, the clamps were gently removed, the animals administered 1 ml of sterile saline intraperitoneally, and the incision closed in two layers with 4-0 silk suture. The animals were then allowed to recover with free access to food and water. Sham animals underwent the identical procedure without placement of the vascular clamps. The mice assigned to bilateral nephrectomy (BNx) underwent similar procedures except both renal pedicles were ligated with 5-0 silk suture and the kidneys removed. At 6 or 36 hours following the experimental procedure, the mice were euthanized by exsanguination under pentobarbital anesthesia and lung tissues collected for analysis.