To investigate the therapeutic effect of human amniotic fluid-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AF-MSC) on membranous nephropathy in rats.

Twenty-four healthy male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into three groups with 8 rats each. The rat model of membranous nephropathy was established by injection of sheep anti-rat Fx1A antibody in both the model group and AF-MSC group. AF-MSC was injected by tail vein (4×10⁶/rat/week) for 4 weeks after model establishment. The urinary protein/creatinine ratio (UPCR) was measured weekly. After the treatment, serum creatinine (Scr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), albumin (Alb), triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) were detected with blood samples from abdominal aorta of rats. The kidney tissues were stained with the Masson and periodic acid-silver methenamine (PASM) staining methods, and the pathological changes were observed under light microscope. The structural changes of podocytes and basement membrane were observed by transmission electron microscope. The expression of IgG and membrane attack complex C5b-9 in renal tissues in each group were determined by immunofluorescence. The expressions of nephrin and podocin in podocytes were observed by immunohistochemistry.

Compared with the model group, the AF-MSC group showed significantly lower level of UPCR at week 4 (P<0.01), as well as higher level of serum Alb (P<0.05) and lower level of TC (P<0.05). The pathological results showed that the immune complex deposition on glomerular basement membrane was reduced, and that basement membrane thickening was inhibited, with the morphology of podocytes being relatively intact. Immunofluorescence results showed less deposition of IgG and C5b-9 immune complex. Immunohistochemical results showed that the expressions of nephrin and podocin in podocytes were increased (P<0.01).

The human AF-MSC could effectively alleviate the kidney injury in the membranous nephropathy of the rats.

To establish a rat model of crush syndrome (CS) and preliminarily clarify the injury characteristics and functional changes in kidney, heart, and lung.

Sixteen male SD rats were randomly divided into the sham group and CS group with 8 rats each. In the CS group, the hind limbs of rats were crushed under a pressure of 3 kg for 12 h by means of a digital animal crush injury simulation platform to establish the CS model. Twenty-four hours after successful model establishment, the rats were measured in the levels of serum creatine kinase, creatinine, urea nitrogen, and troponin, etc. The bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were detected for the number of cells, protein concentration, and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity. Echocardiography was performed to detect the changes of cardiac function. Staining methods of PAS and HE were used to observe the histopathological changes in kidney, lung, and heart of the rats.

Compared with the sham group, the CS group showed higher levels of serum creatine kinase, creatinine, and urea nitrogen (all P<0.05). The CS group also displayed significant increase in cell numbers (P=0.032), protein concentration, and MPO activity (P=0.015) in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. And the CS group diclosed obvious cardiac diastolic dysfunction as well (P<0.05). Besides, histopathological observations found detachment of renal tubular epithelial cells, expansion of renal tubules, renal tubular cast, and increase in the number of pulmonary interstitial cells.

Twenty-four hours after the crush injury, the rats showed significant dysfunction in the kidneys, heart, and lung, and the pathological damage to the kidney and lung was obvious.

To investigate the effect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on ferroptosis in cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) of mice.

Eighteen 8-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into a model group, an MSCs treatment group, and a control group with 6 mice each. The AKI model was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of 20 mg/kg cisplatin. After 24 h of the cisplatin-induction, the treatment group was given a single intraperitoneal injection of 1×10⁶ MSCs. The mice were sacrificed on day 3 with the kidneys and blood being collected. An in vivo fluorescence imaging system was used to observe the distribution and survival of MSCs in the mice. Serum creatinine (Scr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were detected. Renal tissue was stained with PAS, and mitochondrial morphology of renal cells was observed by transmission electron microscope. The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in kidney tissues were detected to evaluate the ferroptosis. The protein expression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) was detected by Western blotting.

The results of in vivo imaging system showed that MSCs transplanted were colonized in the abdominal cavity and played the role. The model group showed higher levels than the control group, while the treatment group showed lower levels than the model group, in Scr and BUN as well as the acute tubular necrosis scores (P<0.01). Compared with the control group, the model group had higher level of MDA, but lower levels of GSH and SOD (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the treatment group had lower level of MDA (P<0.01), but higher levels of GSH (P<0.01) and SOD (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the model group showed the characteristics of cell ferroptosis such as mitochondrial atrophy, membrane density increase, and reduced mitochondrial crista, which were alleviated in the treatment group. Compared with the control group, the expression of GPX4 and Nrf2 proteins in the model group was significantly down-regulated (P<0.01), but was up-regulated in the treatment group (P<0.05).

MSCs could alleviate the cisplatin-induced injury in the renal tubules of mice by inhibiting the cellular ferroptosis.

To perform a bibliometric analysis of research on artificial kidney for the purpose of exploring the status and trend of research in this field.

From the web of science core collection (WoSCC), artificial kidney-related literature from 2000 to 2022 were taken as samples, and the CiteSpace and VOSviewer softwares were applied to statistically analyze the number of publications, as well as country, institution, author, journal, and key words, etc.

A total of 382 articles related to artificial kidney were obtained after screening and de-duplication. The United States was the country with the largest contribution, and University of Twente was the leading institution. Artificial Organs was the most active journal in this field. Claudio Ronco was the author with the highest number of publications and ranked first among co-cited authors. Wearable artificial kidney, hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and bioartificial kidney were the keywords that appeared with high frequency. Adsorption and removal were the main burst key words.

Annual publications related to artificial kidney have been increasing year by year for the last two decades. Wearable artificial kidney and bioartificial kidney were continuously popular research directions. The recent high interest in the function of artificial kidney to adsorb and remove metabolites suggested that it may be recent hotspots in this field.

To explore the relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) combining cystatin C (Cys-C) and diabetic kidney disease (DKD) in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and influencing factors.

A retrospective study was conducted on the clinical data of 217 DR patients admitted to our hospital from July 2021 to June 2022. The patients were divided into a DKD-complicating group of 54 cases and non-DKD-complicating group of 163 cases. The two groups were compared in the levels of SUA and Cys-C, and it was analyzed including the relationship between SUA combining Cys-C and DKD in patients with DR, as well as the influencing factors.

The SUA and Cys-C levels in the DKD-complicating group were significantly higher than those in the non-DKD-complicating group (P<0.05). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the areas under the curve (AUC) of SUA and Cys-C were 0.844 and 0.825, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity were 77.8% and 84.0% for SUA and 88.9% and 63.2% for Cys-C. The AUC of the combination of SUA and Cys-C was 0.926 with a sensitivity of 97.4% and a specificity of 77.3%. Through multivariate binary logistic analysis, the increase of SUA(95%CI: 1.001-1.049, P=0.038), Cys-C(95%CI: 1.253-4.070, P=0.036), serum creatinine(Scr, 95%CI: 1.036-1.266, P=0.008) and fundus lesionscore(95%CI: 1.231-13.482, P=0.021) were the influencing factors for DKD complication in DR patients, while albumin (ALB) and statins taking may have a potential protective role (P<0.05).

SUA and Cys-C levels were increased in DR patients complicated with DKD. The combination of SUA and Cys-C may have certain predictive value. Elevated SUA, Cys-C, Scr, and fundus lesion scores were influencing factors for the DKD complication in the patients with DR.

To investigate the effect of Niaoduqing granules on residual renal function (RRF) and levels of fibronectin (FN) and TGF-β1 in peritoneal dialysate of peritoneal dialysis patients.

A total of 103 end-stage kidney disease patients who underwent PD treatment in the four hospitals were enrolled, and randomly divided into an experimental group of 52 cases and a control group of 51 cases. The control group received PD treatment, while the experimental group received oral Niaoduqing granules on the basis of PD treatment for 12 months. The two groups were compared in changes of RRF, urine volume, residual Kt/V, residual creatinine clearance rate (Ccr), FN, and TGF-β1 before and after the treatment.

After 12 months of treatment, the levels of RRF, residual Kt/V, and residual Ccr were lower in both groups (P<0.05), but were higher in the experimental group than in the control group (P<0.05). In addition, after treatment, the levels of FN and TGF-β1 in the peritoneal dialysate of the experimental group decreased significantly, and were also lower than those of the control group (all P<0.01).

Niaoduqing granules improved the RRF of the PD patients, and reduced the expression of FN and TGF-β1 implicating that Niaoduqing granules might also have an inhibitory effect on peritoneal fibrosis.

To explore the influencing factors of short-term mortality in elderly maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients and the predictive role of nomogram prediction model.

The clinical data of 344 elderly patients who received MHD treatment in our hospital from January 2018 to August 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the patients′ survival within one year after starting hemodialysis treatment, they were divided into a death group and a survival group. The two groups were compared in the clinical data. Logistic regression model was used to analyze influencing factors of short-term mortality in the elderly MHD patients. And a nomogram model was constructed by the R software. The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating curve (ROC) was applied to evaluate the predictive effect of the model, and the goodness-of-fit test was also carried out.

After starting hemodialysis, 84 patients (24.42%) died within one year. There were significant differences between the two groups in terms of hemodialysis starting age, vascular access type, the proportion of Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) >3, systolic blood pressure (SBP), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), serum albumin (Alb), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and the proportion of urea clearance index (Kt/V) <1.3 (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the main influencing factors for short-term mortality in the elderly MHD patients included hemodialysis starting age(OR 1.263, 95%CI: 1.010-1.534), vascular access type(OR 2.097, 95%CI: 1.025-4.774), Alb(OR 0.463, 95%CI: 0.262-0.817), eGFR(OR 0.416, 95%CI: 0.269-0.644), and Kt/V(OR 2.254, 95%CI: 1.292-5.252). After the above five main influencing factors were introduced into the R software to construct a nomogram model, the analysis results showed that the AUC was 0.820(95%CI: 0.775-0.866) while the goodness-of-fit test displayed good fitting effect (χ²=6.208, P=0.624).

The nomogram model constructed based on five main influencing factors including hemodialysis starting age, vascular access type, Alb, eGFR, and Kt/V might have a role for predicting the risk of short-term mortality in the elderly MHD patients.

To investigate the role of color Doppler ultrasound guidance in establishing vascular access for hemodialysis in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF).

A total of 160 CRF patients admitted to our hospital from January 2019 to January 2020 were selected, and randomly divided into an observation group and a control group with 80 cases each. The vascular access of patients in the observation group was established under the guidance of color Doppler ultrasound, while the vascular access of patients in the control group was established by physicians based on clinical experience. The two groups were compared in the success rate of the first puncture, vascular patency rate, as well as the diameter of the cephalic vein, diameter of the radial artery, diameter of the anastomosis, and arterial blood flow at 1 week and 6 months after establishment of the vascular access. Besides, the two groups were also compared in the incidence of complications such as subcutaneous hematoma, thrombosis, and local vascular sclerosis.

The success rate of first puncture and vascular patency rate in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (P< 0.05). The diameters of the cephalic vein, radial artery, and anastomosis, as well as blood flow of them were significantly greater at six months than at one week after establishing the vascular access (P<0.05). Besides, these were also higher in the observation group than in the control group at the same time points (P<0.05). The total incidence of complications in the observation group was also lower than that in the control group (P<0.05).

Color Doppler ultrasound guidance could significantly improve establishing vascular access for hemodialysis in the CRF patients, with fewer complications.