Matrix stiffness impacts the morphology and the levels of glucose transporter proteins in human renal tubular epithelial cells / 药学学报

ABSTRACT

As the common pathway of chronic renal diseases leading to end-stage renal failure, renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis is characterized by the deposition of extracellular matrix and scar hardening. Our study aimed to construct an in vitro cell culture platform to explore the impact of matrix stiffness on cell morphology and function of renal tubular epithelial cells. Photopolymerized polyacrylamide gels (PAA gel) with varying stiffnesses as model substrates was selected to simulate the matrix stiffness of normal and fibrotic renal tissues with elastic moduli ranging from 1 to 40 kPa. The human renal tubular epithelial cells (HK-2) were seeded on the surface of PAA gels. The impact of matrix stiffness on the morphology of HK-2 were investigated via immunofluorescence staining and confocal microscopy. The expression levels of glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1), glucose transporter 2 (GLUT2), glucose transporter 5 (GLUT5) were semi-quantitatively analyzed. With increasing matrix stiffness, both the levels of GLUT1 and GLUT5 in HK-2 cells were significantly decreased, whereas the expression level and the distribution pattern of GLUT2 in HK-2 remained unchanged with stiffness variation.