Autophagy induction promotes aristolochic acid-I-induced renal injury in vivo and in vitro.

Studies have found that ingestion of aristolochic acid (AA) causes nephropathy first by inducing renal tubular cell apoptosis acutely. It is currently unknown whether crosstalk between autophagy and apoptosis orchestrates the fate of tubular cells in acute AA nephropathy. We tested this hypothesis by acute administration of AA in vivo and in vitro. Autophagy was first induced in vivo through enhancing Atg5 and LC3-II expressions in kidneys of AA-I-treated rats. Punctuate LC3-GFP dots and autophagosomes were detected in this acute AA-I nephropathy rat model. We subsequently utilized normal rat renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (NRK52E) to study the autophagy mechanisms involved in acute AA-I nephropathy, with 100μM AA-I (median lethal dose 50) given in vitro. Cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), nuclear condensation, and fragmentation were demonstrated in the AA-I-treated NRK52E cells. Furthermore, AA-I induced Atg5 and LC3-II expressions and punctuated LC3-GFP dots. Autophagy flux by using lysosome inhibitor E64 induced the accumulation of LC3-II, which further promoted apoptosis through enhancing PARP cleavage. Inhibition of autophagy by 3-methyl adenine also led to the attenuation of AA-I-induced apoptosis, manifesting as decreased PARP cleavage, nuclei condensation, and decreased the number of cells negative for acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining. In addition, knockdown of Atg5 by short hairpin RNA attenuated LC3-II expression and PARP cleavage in NRK52E cells. Taken together, these findings suggested that the acute phase of AA-I-induced nephropathy is associated with induction of Atg5-dependent autophagy, which promotes renal tubular cell apoptosis.