The Expression of Metallothionein-1 in Mouse Kidney

TIAN Juan; GUO Min

doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9896.2013.08.015

Abstract： Objective To investigate the expression and cellular localization of metallothionein-1 (MT-1) in mouse kidney. Methods The adult male CD-1 mice were selected as experimental animals. The protein of MT-1 in mouse renal cortex and medulla was detected by Western blot assay. Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence methods were ap-plied to observe the location of MT-1 in renal tubules and collecting ducts of mouse kidney. Double-immunofluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopy were used to observe the subcellular localization of MT-1 in the epithelial cells of re-nal tubules and collecting ducts of mouse kidney. Results The expression of MT-1 was detected in cortex and medulla of mouse kidney. The expression of MT-1was mainly found in proximal convoluted tubules and distal convoluted tubules of cor-tical labyrinth, and proximal straight tubules, distal straight tubules and collecting ducts of ray medullary and medulla of kid-ney. The strongest expression of MT-1 was found in proximal tubules, secondary in distal tubules and last in collecting ducts. The intracellular location of MT-1 was in brush border of proximal tubules and intracytoplasm, in the distal tubule epi-thelial cell cytoplasm and in the basolateral membranes of collecting duct epithelial cells. The subcellular localization was found in the lysosome. Conclusion The different locations of MT-1 expressed in proximal tubules, distal tubules and col-lecting ducts may determine different roles of them in kidney.