Overexpression of acetyl CoA carboxylase β exacerbates podocyte injury in the kidney of streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice.

A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) within the acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC) β gene (ACACB), rs2268388, has been shown to be associated with susceptibility to development of proteinuria in patients with type 2 diabetes. To investigate the biological roles of ACCβ in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy, we examined the effects of overexpression of ACACB using podocyte-specific ACACB-transgenic mice or ACACB-overexpressing murine podocytes. Podocyte-specific ACACB-transgenic mice or littermate mice were treated with streptozotocin (STZ) to induce diabetes, and 12 weeks after induction of diabetes, we examined the expression of podocyte markers to evaluate the degree of podocyte injury in these mice. We also examined the effects of ACCβ on podocyte injury in ACACB- or LacZ-overexpressing murine podocytes. Podocyte-specific ACACB overexpression did not cause visible podocyte injury in non-diabetic mice. In STZ-induced diabetic mice, ACACB-transgenic mice showed a significant increase in urinary albumin excretion, accompanied by decreased synaptopodin expression and podocin mislocalization in podocytes, compared with wild-type mice. In cultured murine podocytes, overexpression of ACACB significantly decreased synaptopodin expression and reorganized stress fibers under high glucose conditions, but not in normal glucose conditions. The decrease of synaptopodin expression and reorganized stress fibers observed in ACACB overexpressing cells cultured under high glucose conditions was reversed by a treatment of 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-beta-4-ribofuranoside (AICAR), activator of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). The excess of ACCβ might contribute to exacerbation of podocyte injury in the kidney of an animal model for diabetes mellitus, and the AMPK/ACCβ pathway may be a novel therapeutic target for the prevention of diabetes-related podocyte injury.

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