*Purpose: Preventing ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) is an important issue in kidney transplantation, significantly related to graft survival. Ceria nanoparticles has antioxidant properties as a reactive oxygen species scavenger that may help reduce IRI. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of ceria nanoparticles in renal ischemia reperfusion injury models in rats.

*Methods: Four groups of rats were induced with ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) and injected with either phosphate buffered solution (PBS) or low, moderate and high concentrations of ceria nanoparticles (0.5, 0.7 & 1.5ml/kg) intraperitoneally at the time of reperfusion. These groups were compared with two control groups, the sham group with no IRI and the IRI induced group without any injections. Western blot analysis of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), caspase-3 and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were performed. Immunohistochemistry results of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70), CD68+ macrophages and OX62+ dendritic cells were analyzed using the percentage of positive area.

*Results: The expression of caspase-3, an apoptotic marker, was significantly lower in the nanoparticles injected group than the two ischemic groups, IRI and PBS group (p < 0.01). The percentage of positive area of Hsp 70 in the immunohistochemistry decreased proportionally to the dosage of nanoparticles (0.5ml/kg : 5.96±1.77%, 0.7ml/kg : 3.43±10.2% 1.5ml/kg : 0.81±0.53% respectively). The groups injected with nanoparticles’ concentration higher than 0.7mg/kg resulted in a significant decrease in expression of iNOS than the IRI and PBS groups (p < 0.001). Compared to the IRI control group, both the positive areas of infiltration of the OX62+ dendritic cells and the CD68+ macrophages were significantly lower in the IRI groups injected with ceria nanoparticles(p < 0.001). The relative expression of TLR2 and TLR4 decreased significantly in the groups injected with concentrations greater than 0.7mg/kg compared to the sham, IRI and PBS groups (p < 0.001).

*Conclusions: These results suggest that ceria nanoparticles have a protective effect against ischemia reperfusion injury in rat models. Ceria nanoparticles may prevent ischemic reperfusion injury by reducing the oxidative stress as well as prevent innate alloimmunity by reducing infiltration of macrophages and dendritic cells and expression of TLRs.

« Back to 2020 American Transplant Congress