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NLRP3 inflammasome is involved in the mechanism of mitigative effect of selenium on lead-induced inflammatory damage in chicken kidneys

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Abstract

Lead (Pb) is a kind of widespread toxic environmental pollutant which can cause harm to organisms. Selenium (Se) has the property of mitigating Pb toxicity through decreasing oxidative stress and inflammation caused by Pb. Nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich-containing family, and pyrin-domain containing-3 (NLRP3) inflammasome involve in inflammation process. However, the effect of NLRP3 inflammasome in heavy metal-caused animal damage remains unknown. This research aimed to explore the mechanism of mitigative role of Se on Pb-caused renal inflammatory injury in chickens. One-week-old male chickens were provided a standard diet and drinking water, a standard diet added with 1 mg kg−1 of Se and drinking water, a standard diet and drinking water added with 350 mg L−1 Pb, and a standard diet added with 1 mg kg−1 Se and drinking water added with 350 mg L−1 Pb. On the 4th, 8th, and 12th weeks, serum was used to measure creatinine (CREA) and uric acid (UA) contents, and kidneys were used to measure Se and Pb concentrations, histological structure, oxidative stress indicators, relative expressions of cytokines, and inflammatory factors. The results showed that Pb accumulated, Se concentration decreased, CREA and UA contents increased, and renal injury occurred in Pb-treated chicken kidneys. Excess Pb increased MDA content and the expressions of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17, NLRP3, caspase-1, NF-κB, COX-2, TNF-α, and PTGEs and decreased GSH content, GPx and SOD activities, and IFN-γ expression in the chicken kidneys. Se administration alleviated the aforementioned changes. In addition, toxic effect of Pb on the chicken kidneys was time-dependent. NLRP3 inflammasome, caspase-1, and IL-1β may be sensitive indicators in Pb-induced chicken kidney inflammatory damage. In conclusion, NLRP3 inflammasome took part in antagonistic role of Se against Pb-caused inflammation via changing oxidative stress indicators, cytokines, and inflammation-related genes in the chicken kidneys.

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Funding

The study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31972612), the Heilongjiang Province on Natural Fund Project of China (No. LH2019C026), Smart Agricultural Engineering Research Center of Jilin Province Foundation, and Digital Agriculture key discipline of Jilin Province Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical and Information Engineering College, Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology University, Jilin, 132101, People’s Republic of China

    He Huang & You Tang

  2. College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, People’s Republic of China

    He Huang, Jianqing Chen, Qi Sun, Yuhao Liu & Xiaohua Teng

Authors
  1. He Huang
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  2. Jianqing Chen
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  3. Qi Sun
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  4. Yuhao Liu
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  5. You Tang
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  6. Xiaohua Teng
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Contributions

He Huang was responsible for the research design, the performance of whole experiment, analysis of the data, and drafting the manuscript. Jianqing Chen helped to perform the experiments and analyse the data. Qi Sun and Yuhao Liu made contribution to the sample collection and treatment. You Tang made contribution to the technical assistance. Xiaohua Teng contributed significantly to the manuscript preparation. All listed authors have made substantial contributions to the research and publication.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to You Tang or Xiaohua Teng.

Ethics declarations

All procedures used in this experiment were approved by the Northeast Agricultural University’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee under the approved protocol number SRM-06. Date of approval: 1 January 2018.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Written informed consent for publication was obtained from all participants.

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All authors read and approved the final manuscript. They agreed with the publication and consented to submit. They obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the Northeast Agricultural University.

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Responsible Editor: Mohamed M. Abdel-Daim

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He Huang and Jianqing Chen are co-first authors.

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Huang, H., Chen, J., Sun, Q. et al. NLRP3 inflammasome is involved in the mechanism of mitigative effect of selenium on lead-induced inflammatory damage in chicken kidneys. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 10898–10908 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11322-w

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