Repetitive administration of cultured human CD34+cells improve adenine-induced kidney injury in mice

BACKGROUND There is no established treatment to impede the progression or restore kidney function in human chronic kidney disease(CKD).AIM To examine the efficacy of cultured human CD34+cells with enhanced proliferating potential in kidney injury in mice.METHODS Human umbilical cord blood(UCB)-derived CD34+cells were incubated for one week in vasculogenic conditioning medium.Vasculogenic culture significantly increased the number of CD34+cells and their ability to form endothelial progenitor cell colony-forming units.Adenineinduced tubulointerstitial injury of the kidney was induced in immunodeficient non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency mice,and cultured human UCB-CD34+cells were administered at a dose of 1×106/mouse on days 7,14,and 21 after the start of adenine diet.RESULTS Repetitive administration of cultured UCB-CD34+cells significantly improved the time-course of kidney dysfunction in the cell therapy group compared with that in the control group.Both interstitial fibrosis and tubular damage were significantly reduced in the cell therapy group compared with those in the control group(P<0.01).Microvasculature integrity was significantly preserved(P<0.01)and macrophage infiltration into kidney tissue was dramatically decreased in the cell therapy group compared with those in the control group(P<0.001).CONCLUSION Early intervention using human cultured CD34+cells significantly improved the progression of tubulointerstitial kidney injury.Repetitive administration of cultured human UCB-CD34+cells significantly improved tubulointerstitial damage in adenine-induced kidney injury in mice via vasculoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects.

Initial impacts of rain gardens＇ application on water quality and quantity in combined sewer： field-scale experiment

Green infrastructures such as rain gardens can benetit onsite reduction ot stormwater runott, leading to reduced combined sewer overflows. A pilot project was conducted to evaluate the impact of rain gardens on the water quality and volume reduction of storm runoff from urban streets in a combined sewer area. The study took place in a six-block area on South Grand Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. The impact was assessed through a comparison between the pre-construction （2011/2012） and the post-construction （2014） phases. Shortly after the rain gardens were installed, the levels of total suspended solids, chloride, total nitrogen, total phosphorous, zinc, and copper increased. The level of mercury was lower than the detection level in both phases. E. coli was the only parameter that showed statistically significant decrease following the installation of rain gardens. The likely reason for initial increase in monitored water quality parameters is that the post-construction sampling began after the rain gardens were constructed but before planting, resulted from soil erosion and wash-out from the mulch. However, the levels of most of water quality parameters decreased in the following time period during the post-construction phase. The study found 76% volume reduction of stormwater runoff following the installation of rain gardens at one of studied sites. Statistical analysis is essential on collected data because of the encountered high variability of measured flows resulted from low flow conditions in studied sewers.