Journal: Cell Death & Disease
Article Title: Lipocalin-2 promotes CKD vascular calcification by aggravating VSMCs ferroptosis through NCOA4/FTH1-mediated ferritinophagy
doi: 10.1038/s41419-024-07260-x
Figure Lengend Snippet: A Scheme of the experiment. Mice were injected with AAV9-SM22α-vector and AAV9-SM22α- LCN2 and then provided with an AP diet or normal diet (ND) for 14 weeks. B Upper and middle: representative images of Von Kossa staining of the aortic smooth muscle layer. Scale bar: 200 μm for upper; 100 μm for middle; bottom: IHC images of LCN2 expression in four groups. Scale bar: 100 μm. C Semi-quantification of positive Von Kossa staining of the aortic smooth muscle layer D Calcium concentrations of the aorta (n = 5 per group). E Serum phosphorus levels (n = 5 per group). F , G LCN2 overexpression efficiency was validated by Western blot analysis (n = 4 per group). H Calcium deposition in LCN2-overexpressing VSMCs in growth medium or HP conditions was assessed by alizarin red staining (positive staining: red; scale bar: 200 μm) and quantified by hexadecylpyridinium chloride (n = 4 per group) ( I ). J Representative images of alizarin red staining of VSMCs treated with different doses of rLCN2 (0, 250, 500, or 1000 ng/ml) in the presence of HP. Scale bar: 50 μm. K Quantification of the alizarin red staining by hexadecylpyridinium chloride (n = 5 per group). Data are presented as mean ± SD. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 and **** p < 0.0001. AAV adeno-associated virus, Lv lentivirus, CKD-VC chronic kidney disease-related vascular calcification, AP adenine and phosphate, ND normal diet, IHC immunohistochemical, VSMCs vascular smooth muscle cells, HP high phosphate, rLCN2 recombinant LCN2, SD standard deviation.
Article Snippet: VSMCs were incubated with LCN2 inhibitor ZINC00784494 (catalogue no. HY-148364, MedChemExpress, New Jersey, USA) under HP conditions (final concentration, 0.5 μmol/L /ml) for 5 days.
Techniques: Injection, Plasmid Preparation, Staining, Expressing, Over Expression, Western Blot, Virus, Immunohistochemical staining, Recombinant, Standard Deviation