Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 13, 2026
Assessment of Kidney Function in Mouse Models of Glomerular Disease
Published on: June 30, 2018
Production and Analysis of Conditional KO Mice of CCN2 in Kidney
Naohiro Toda1, Hideki Yokoi2, Kiyoshi Mori3
1Department of Nephrology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.
Abstract:
CCN2 has been shown to be closely involved in the progression of renal fibrosis, indicating the potential of CCN2 inhibition as a therapeutic target. Although the examination of the phenotypes of adult CCN2 knockout mice with renal diseases has yielded valuable scientific insights, perinatal death has limited studies of CCN2 in vivo. Conditional knockout technology has become widely used for the deletion of genes in the desired cell populations and time points through the use of cell-specific Cre recombinase-expressing mice. Accordingly, several lines of CCN2 floxed mice have been developed for the assessment of the functional role of CCN2 in adult mice.CCN2 levels are increased in renal fibrosis and proliferative glomerulonephritis, which represent good disease models for evaluating the effects of CCN2 deletion on the kidney. Of these, anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody glomerulonephritis has become the most widely used model for evaluating the effect of increased renal CCN2 expression. Herein, we describe the construction of CCN2 floxed mice and inducible systemic CCN2 conditional knockout mice and methods for the induction of anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody glomerulonephritis.
Insights
Cellular communication network factor 2 (CCN2) drives kidney fibrosis. This study details novel mouse models to investigate CCN2
Area of Science:
- Nephrology
- Molecular Biology
- Genetics
Background:
- Cellular communication network factor 2 (CCN2) is implicated in renal fibrosis progression.
- Previous in vivo studies of CCN2 were limited by perinatal lethality in knockout models.
- Conditional knockout technology offers a solution for studying gene function in specific cells and time points.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and characterize CCN2 floxed and inducible systemic conditional knockout mouse models.
- To establish a method for inducing anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody glomerulonephritis in these models.
- To facilitate the study of CCN2's role in adult kidney disease.
Main Methods:
- Construction of CCN2 floxed mice.
- Development of inducible systemic CCN2 conditional knockout mice.
- Induction of anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody glomerulonephritis model.
Main Results:
- Successfully generated CCN2 floxed and inducible systemic conditional knockout mice.
- Established a reliable method for inducing glomerulonephritis in these models.
- These models enable in vivo investigation of CCN2 function in adult kidney disease.
Conclusions:
- The developed mouse models are crucial tools for dissecting the role of CCN2 in renal fibrosis.
- These models will advance our understanding of CCN2 as a therapeutic target for kidney diseases.
- Further research using these models is expected to yield significant insights into renal pathophysiology.
