The primary cilium is a microtubule-based nonmotile organelle that extends from the surface of cells, including renal tubular cells. Here, we investigated the alteration of primary cilium length during epithelial cell injury and repair, following ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) insult, and the role of reactive oxygen species in this alteration. Thirty minutes of bilateral renal ischemia induced severe renal tubular cell damage and an increase of plasma creatinine (PCr) concentration. Between 8 and 16 days following the ischemia, the increased PCr returned to normal range, although without complete histological restoration. Compared with the primary cilium length in normal kidney tubule cells, the length was shortened 4 h and 1 day following ischemia, increased over normal 8 days after ischemia, and then returned to near normal 16 days following ischemia. In the urine of I/R-subjected mice, acetylated tubulin was detected. The cilium length of proliferating cells was shorter than that in nonproliferating cells. Mature cells had shorter cilia than differentiating cells. Treatment with Mn(III) tetrakis(1-methyl-4-pyridyl) porphyrin (MnTMPyP), an antioxidant, during the recovery of damaged kidneys accelerated normalization of cilia length concomitant with a decrease of oxidative stress and morphological recovery in the kidney. In the Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, H(2)O(2) treatment caused released ciliary fragment into medium, and MnTMPyP inhibited the deciliation. The ERK inhibitor U0126 inhibited elongation of cilia in normal and MDCK cells recovering from H(2)O(2) stress. Taken together, our results suggest that primary cilia length reflects cell proliferation and the length of primary cilium is regulated, at least, in part, by reactive oxygen species through ERK.
Keywords: ERK; ROS; ischemia; primary cilia; reactive oxygen species.