Identification of novel targets of cephaloridine in rabbit renal proximal tubules synthesizing glutamine from alanine.
Cephaloridine, which accumulates in the renal proximal tubule, is a model compound used for studying the toxicity of antibiotics towards this nephron segment. Several studies have demonstrated that cephaloridine alters renal intermediary and energy metabolism, but the mechanism by which this compound interferes with renal metabolic pathways remains incompletely understood. In an attempt to improve our knowledge in this field, we have studied the influence of cephaloridine on the synthesis of glutamine, which represents a key metabolic process involving several important enzymatic steps in the rabbit kidney. For this, suspensions of rabbit renal proximal tubules were incubated for 90 and 180 min in the presence of 5 mM alanine, an important glutamine precursor, both in the absence and the presence of 10 mM cephaloridine. Glutamate accumulation and glutamine synthesis were found to be inhibited by cephaloridine after 90 and 180 min of incubation, and cephaloridine accumulation in the renal proximal cells occurred in a time-dependent manner. The renal proximal tubule activities of alanine aminotransferase and glutamate dehydrogenase, which initiates alanine removal and releases the ammonia needed for glutamine synthesis, respectively, were inhibited to a significant degree and in a concentration-dependent manner by cephaloridine concentrations in the range found to accumulate in the renal proximal cells. Citrate synthase and glutamine synthetase activities were also inhibited by cephaloridine, but to a much lesser extent. The above enzymatic activities were not found to be inhibited when they were measured after successive dilutions of renal proximal tubules incubated for 180 min in the presence of 5 mM alanine and 10 mM cephaloridine. When microdissected segments (S1-S3) of rabbit renal proximal tubules were incubated for 180 min with 5 mM alanine with and without 5 and 10 mM cephaloridine, glutamate accumulation and glutamine synthesis were also inhibited in the three renal proximal segments studied; the latter cephaloridine-induced inhibitions observed were concentration-dependent except for glutamine in the S3 segment. These results are consistent with the view that cephaloridine accumulates and is toxic along the entire rabbit renal proximal tubule. They also demonstrate that cephaloridine interferes in a concentration-dependent and reversible manner mainly with alanine aminotransferase and glutamate dehydrogenase, which are therefore newly-identified targets of the toxic effects of cephaloridine in the rabbit renal proximal tubule.
Laboratoire de Physiopathologie Métabolique et Rénale, Faculté de Médecine Laennec, INSERM and Université Claude Bernard-Lyon 1, UMR No 499, rue G. Paradin, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France. jerome.guitton@sante.univ-lyon1.fr
Jérôme
J
Guitton
Agnès
A
Conjard
Assaad
A
Eid
Mireille
M
Martin
Michelle
M
Boghossian
Hélène
H
Delage
Gabriel
G
Baverel
Bernard
B
Ferrier
D000409:Alanine / Q000378:metabolism*; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000633:toxicity*; D002509:Cephaloridine / Q000633:toxicity*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005969:Glutamate Dehydrogenase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D005974:Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D005973:Glutamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007687:Kidney Tubules, Proximal / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology; D011817:Rabbits; D013997:Time Factors
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D005973:Glutamine; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005969:Glutamate Dehydrogenase; D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D005974:Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase; D002509:Cephaloridine; D000409:Alanine