title: Suitability of 5/6 nephrectomy (5/6NX) for the induction of interstitial renal fibrosis in rats--influence of sex, strain, and surgical procedure.
abstract: Chronic renal failure (CRF) is a serious clinical problem and currently there are no adequate therapeutic strategies for treatment. Many possible treatment strategies have been tested in rats with CRF induced by subtotal nephrectomy. However, reports in the literature concerning the consequences of this procedure on rat kidney function are contradictory. For instance, such an intervention in male Sprague-Dawley rats apparently initiates the development of interstitial renal fibrosis, while in our similar studies on female Wistar rats (HW) there was minimal renal fibrosis. Therefore, we carried out experiments in adult rats to investigate the long-term consequences of 5/6 nephrectomy (5/6NX) in relation to (1) sex, (2) strain, and (3) two methods of surgical ablation. Ten weeks after 5/6NX, body weight gain, systolic blood pressure, creatinine clearance, and urinary protein were measured, along with renal hydroxyproline concentration determinations to assess the deposition of extracellular matrix. Also, light microscopic investigations were done to characterize renal damage. The functional parameters clearly indicated the development of CRF, while morphologic investigations showed only moderate fibrotic areas containing atrophic tubules and lymphocytic infiltrates. However, 45-60% of glomeruli were sclerotic. In summary, 5/6NX, using either method of partial nephrectomy, induces signs of moderate glomerulonephritis preferentially in female HW rats. Thus 5/6NX in female HW rats can be recommended as a suitable model in the induction of renal fibrosis.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, D-07740 Jena, Germany. Christian.Fleck@mti.uni-jena.de
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fleck
authors.forename: Dorothea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Appenroth
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jonas
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: Günther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kundt
authors.forename: Horst
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nizze
authors.forename: Günter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000662:veterinary; D005921:Glomerulonephritis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000662:veterinary*; D007668:Kidney / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000662:veterinary*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012737:Sex Factors