Ultrasound-guided intrarenal arterial injection promotes homing of MSCs and recovery of kidney in Adriamycin-induced nephropathy in rats.

To identify the optimal transplantation route for enhancing homing of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to the kidney, thereby ameliorating rat Adriamycin nephropathy (AN). In vivo animal imaging revealed that ultrasound-guided intrarenal-arterial transplantation of GFP-MSCs markedly increased the number of MSCs homing to the kidney compared with the intravenous injection (IV) and renal parenchyma (RP) routes. Multimodal ultrasonography revealed that the renal artery (RA) group exhibited reduced renal parenchymal echogenicity and significantly increased cortical microvascular perfusion compared to the Adriamycin (ADR), IV, and RP groups. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, Masson staining, and electron microscopy revealed that the RA group had an enlarged glomerular volume, diminished renal interstitial fibrosis, and attenuated mitochondrial damage compared to the ADR, IV, and RP groups. Western blotting, qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry further indicated that the RA group mitigated rat AN by downregulating the JAK2, AKT1, and STAT3 signaling pathways more effectively than the ADR, IV, and RP groups did. The above findings indicate that under ultrasound guidance, MSCs transplanted via the renal artery can ameliorate AN-induced renal injury by acting on the JAK/STAT signaling pathway.