The Effect of Donor Rat Gender in Mitochondrial Transplantation Therapy of Cisplatin-Induced Toxicity on Rat Renal Proximal Tubular Cells

Background: Cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity has been linked to a fundamental mechanism of mitochondrial dysfunction. A treatment called mitochondrial transplantation therapy can be used to replace damaged mitochondria with healthy mitochondria. Mitochondrial-related diseases may benefit from this approach.

Objectives: We investigated the effect of mitochondrial transplantation on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity using freshly isolated mitochondria obtained from renal proximal tubular cells (RPTCs).

Methods: Based on our previous findings, we hypothesized that direct exposure of healthy mitochondria to cisplatin-affected RPTCs might improve cytotoxicity markers and restore mitochondrial function. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to determine whether newly isolated mitochondrial transplantation protected RPTCs from cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity. The supply of exogenous rat kidney mitochondria to cisplatin-affected RPTCs was also a goal of this study to investigate the possibility of gender differences. After the addition of cisplatin (100 µM), rat RPTCs (10⁶ cells/mL) were suspended in Earle's solution (pH = 7.4) at 37°C for two hours. Freshly isolated mitochondria were extracted at 4°C and diluted in 100 and 200 µg/mL mitochondrial protein.

Results: Statistical analysis revealed that transplantation of healthy mitochondria decreased ROS level, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) collapse, MDA level, glutathione depletion, lysosomal membrane damage, and caspase-3 activity induced by cisplatin in rat RPTCs. In addition, our results demonstrated that transplantation of female rat kidney mitochondria has higher protective activity at reducing toxicity parameters than male mitochondria.

Conclusions: The findings reaffirmed that mitochondrial transplantation is a novel, potential, and promising therapeutic strategy for xenobiotic-induced nephrotoxicity.