5/6 Nephrectomy

In total, 39 wildtype, 42 IL‐17A deficient mice and 28 RAG‐1 deficient mice were used in the study. Following anaesthesia with isoflurane (induction 5%, maintenance 3%), a small flank incision was used to obtain retroperitoneal access in order to expose the left kidney; 2/3 of this kidney was removed as described earlier (Fraune et al., 2012). For analgesia tramadol (10 mg/kg) was given subcutaneously at the time of surgery and three days in the drinking water (1 mg/mL). The removed tissue was weighed with a precision balance (ED153; Sartorius, Germany). Fourteen days later, 5/6 nephrectomy was completed by contralateral uni‐nephrectomy. One week after the second surgery, urinary albumin and creatinine were measured. Only mice with an albumin‐to‐creatinine ratio over 0.5 mg·mg⁻¹ (indicating successful induction of renal disease) were included in the experiment. Age‐matched, untouched wildtype animals were used as the control group (n = 8). At the end of the experiment, 12 weeks after the second nephrectomy, under deep anaesthesia with isoflurane (5%) and tramadol (10 mg/kg, s.c.), heparinized blood (20 IU heparin/mL) was withdrawn by cardiac puncture and the remnant kidneys were removed for examination. In this model, some animals (8 WT; 6 RAG‐1^‐/‐ and 9 IL‐17A^‐/‐ mice) died within 1‐2 days after the second nephrectomy and the remainder of animals excluded (Table 2) did not develop CKD (Lehners et al., 2014).

Number of mice