Unaltered Size-selectivity of the Glomerular Filtration Barrier in Caveolin-1 Knock-out (KO) mice.

The transfer of albumin from blood to tissue has been found to be increased in caveolin-1 knock-out (KO) mice. This has been considered to reflect an increased microvascular permeability, conceivably caused by an increased endothelial production of nitric oxide (NO) in mice lacking caveolin-1. To investigate whether such an increase in endothelial NO-production would also affect the glomerular barrier characteristics, the glomerular sieving coefficients () to neutral, polydisperse fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-Ficoll 70/400 (mol. radius 15-90 A) were determined in caveolin-1 KO mice vs. their wild-type counterparts. for Ficoll were assessed using high performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) on blood and urine samples. Furthermore, the transcapillary escape rate (TER) of (125)I-labeled albumin and plasma volume (PV) were determined in both types of mice. Despite an increase in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in caveolin-1 KO mice (0.23+/-0.04 mL/min; n=7 vs. 0.10+/-0.02 mL/min; n=7; p<0.05) the glomerular Ficoll sieving curves were nearly identical. Furthermore, caveolin-1 KO mice showed an increased PV (6.59+/-0.42 mL/100g vs. 5.18+/-0.13 mL/100g; p<0.01) but only a tendency of an increased TER (14.69+/-1.59 %/h vs. 11.62+/-1.62 %/h; N.S.). It is concluded that in caveolin-1 KO mice the glomerular permeability was not increased, despite the presence of glomerular hyperfiltration. The present data are in line with the concept that the increased transvascular albumin leakage previously found in mice lacking caveolin-1 may be due to an elevation in systemic microvascular pressure following NO-induced precapillary vasodilatation, rather than being a consequence of an increased microvascular permeability per se. Key words: capillary permeability, nitric oxide, sieving coefficient, Ficoll, glomerular filtration rate.