title: Lack of nephrotoxicity following 15-day therapy with high doses of colistin in rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent studies suggest that the incidence and severity of systemic toxicity due to colistin administration appear to be overstated. The objective of this study was to investigate colistin-induced nephrotoxicity in Wistar rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighteen adult Wistar rats were divided into three groups: group I (controls, vehicle, n=6) rats were injected intramuscularly (i.m.) with physiological sodium chloride solution and groups II and III (colistin, n=6 each) rats were treated with colistin at a dose of 150,000 or 300,000 IU/kg body weight per day i.m, respectively. The drug injections were applied for 15 days. Twelve hours after the last injection the rats were sacrificed. The kidneys were quickly removed and blood samples were collected. Microscopic examination of the kidneys and measurements of serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen concentrations were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean urea nitrogen concentrations were 5.95+/-0.58, 5.75+/-0.61, and 5.77+/-0.87 mmol/l and the mean serum creatinine concentrations were 45.5+/-1.87, 43+/-1.79, and 44+/-2.19 micromol/l in groups I, II, and III, respectively, without any statistical differences between the groups. Exposure to colistin did not cause any histological change in the kidney structure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that colistin, when administered alone at usual doses, may not cause nephrotoxicity.
authors: Laboratory of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia. ahmed_hakim2002@yahoo.fr
authors: Ahmed
authors: A
authors: Hakim
authors: Hatem
authors: H
authors: Kallel
authors: Zouheir
authors: Z
authors: Sahnoun
authors: Riadh
authors: R
authors: Badraoui
authors: Kamel
authors: K
authors: Jammoussi
authors: Mounir
authors: M
authors: Bouaziz
authors: Khaled Mounir
authors: KM
authors: Zeghal
authors: Tarak
authors: T
authors: Rebaii
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003091:Colistin / Q000633:toxicity; D007668:Kidney / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003091:Colistin