Renal expression of autophagy markers in diabetic kidney of PUFA-supplemented rats.

Diabetic nephropathy is the leading cause of end-stage kidney disease, and the association between impaired autophagy and kidney structure damage in diabetes is well known. Diets enriched with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been the subject of numerous studies on preventing and treating various metabolic disorders. The results of these studies suggest that n-3 PUFA may have a renoprotective effect, reducing the structural damage to the kidneys associated with DM. We hypothesized that the activation of autophagy partly mediates the potential protective effect of n-3 PUFA on diabetic kidneys. Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups according to the type of diet: control (C) and diabetic (STZ) groups received food including 0.5 % linseed oil and 2 % sunflower oil with an n-6/n-3 ratio of 7; the STZ+N6 group received a diet with 2.5 % sunflower oil with an n-6/n-3 ratio of 60; and the STZ+N3 group received a diet containing 2.5 % fish oil with an n-6/n-3 ratio of 1, with the addition of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and 19 % docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). All rats, except for those in the C group, had diabetes induced by an intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. We conducted histological and immunohistochemical assessments to determine the effects of different n-6/n-3 PUFA dietary ratios on the expression levels of different autophagy markers in the kidney of the rats. The results indicate significant effects of n-3 and n-6 PUFA supplementation on the expression of different autophagy markers in the renal cortex of the diabetic rats. In particular, n-6 PUFA supplementation increased LC3B expression while simultaneously decreasing Rab7 expression; meanwhile, n-3 PUFA supplementation resulted in a decreased expression of LAMP2A and Rab7. Moreover, n-3 PUFA supplementation prevented an increase in BECL1 and p62, that was observed in kidneys from diabetic and diabetic n-3 supplemented animals. These results point to the complex interactions of fatty acids and autophagy during the development of diabetic kidney disease, which should be taken into account in future therapeutic approaches.