EFFECT OF PROLONGED SALINE LOADING ON HGCL2-INDUCED RENAL TUBULAR DAMAGE

  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 65  (5) , 567-575
Abstract
Male Porton-Wistar rats, 32 wk old, were given i.p. one of the following doses of HgCl2: 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5 mg Hg/kg. In the preceding 4 wk period and throughout the experiment the animals had free access to either tap water or 1.0% saline. The urinary secretion of alkaline phosphatase measured in urine samples, collected during the first 24 h after treatment with Hg, indicated that chronic saline loading significantly attenuated tubular damage caused by 0.5 mg or 1.0 mg Hg/kg, but not by 1.5 mg Hg/kg. Tubular necrosis 12 and 24 h after Hg was also less severe and extensive in saline than in tap water-drinking rats. This difference was still noticeable 4 days after Hg treatment in rats dosed with 0.5 mg Hg/kg, but death in the 2 higher dose groups prevented further pair-to-pair histological comparison. At the selected dose levels chronic saline loading did not decrease renal Hg content at 12 or 24 h, and therefore protection was not associated with decrease in renal Hg uptake. Chronic saline drinking, which at higher doses attenuates HgCl2-induced acute renal failure but not tubular necrosis, apparently is able to moderate the severity of tubular necrosis when the dose of HgCl2 is as low as 0.5 mg Hg/kg. This protective effect diminishes as the dose is increased.