Porous Se@SiO Nanocomposites Play a Potential Inhibition Role in Hyperoxaluria Associated Kidney Stone by Exerting Antioxidant Effects

Background: Nephrolithiasis seriously affects people's health with increasing prevalence and high recurrence rates. However, there is still a lack of effective interventions for the clinical prevention of kidney stones. Hyperoxaluria-induced renal tubular epithelial cell (TEC) injury is a known key factor in kidney stone formation. Thus, developing new drugs to inhibit the hyperoxaluria-induced TEC injury may be the best way.

Methods: We synthesized the Se@SiO nanocomposites as described in Zhu's study. The size and morphology of the Se@SiO nanocomposites were captured by transmission electron microscopy. Cell viability was measured by a Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. The mice were randomly divided into the following four groups: (I) the control group (n=6); (II) the Se@SiO group (n=6); (III) the glyoxylic acid monohydrate (GAM) group; and (IV) the GAM + Se@SiO group (n=6). The concentration of Se in the mice was quantified using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy.

Results: The CCK-8 assays showed that Se@SiO nanocomposites had almost no obvious cytotoxicity on the Transformed C3H Mouse Kidney-1 (TCMK-1) cell. The mice kidney Se concentration levels in the Se@SiO groups (Se@SiO 6.905±0.074 mg/kg; GAM + Se@SiO 7.673±2.85 mg/kg) (n=6) were significantly higher than those in the control group (Control 0.727±0.072 mg/kg; GAM 0.747±0.074 mg/kg) (n=6). The Se@SiO nanocomposites reduced kidney injury, calcium oxalate crystal deposition, and the osteoblastic-associated proteins in the hyperoxaluria mice models.

Conclusions: Se@SiO nanocomposites appear to protect renal TECs from hyperoxaluria by reducing reactive oxygen species production, suggesting the potential role of preventing kidney stone formation and recurrence.