Morphometric and tridimensional studies of tubular cystic degeneration in rat kidney following exposure to cisplatin.
Cisplatin, a widely used chemotherapeutic agent, is characterized by a dose-limiting renal toxicity. Cystic tubular dilatation is the most typical histopathological alteration encountered in cisplatin-treated rats. The purpose of the present study was to explore by a morphometric approach the development of cystic degeneration and, in particular, to analyse, by computer-assisted tridimensional reconstructions, the spatial structure and the tubular origin of cisplatin-induced renal cysts. This study was performed on rats given 8 mg/kg cisplatin i.p. for four days and sacrificed 4, 7, 14, 21, 50 and 60 days after last drug administration. The relative area occupied by cystic tubules increased rapidly in the outer stripe of outer medulla (OSOM) and reached a maximum 21 days after the end of treatment. Cystic dilatations appeared later in the kidney cortex and the inner stripe of outer medulla (ISOM). The tridimensional study of cystic tubules located in OSOM confirmed previous reports indicating that they arise from proximal straight tubules and showed that cystic degeneration was not associated with atrophy or degeneration in more proximal parts of the nephron. Moreover, cystic tubules located in ISOM were found to originate from distal straight tubules and/or the loop of Henle, an observation which, to our knowledge, has not been reported so far in cisplatin-treated rats.
Zanen
J
J
Laboratoire d'Histologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Mons-Hainaut, Belgium.
Carinci
V
V
Nonclercq
D
D
Toubeau
G
G
Laurent
G
G
Heuson-Stiennon
J A
JA
D000818:Animals; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000633:toxicity*; D003560:Cysts / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007684:Kidney Tubules / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D002945:Cisplatin