IMPORTANCE OF EARLY INITIATION OF ANTIHYPERLIPIDEMIC TREATMENT FOR THE PREVENTION OF EXPERIMENTAL PROGRESSIVE RENAL-FAILURE

This study was conducted to clarify the appropriate time to initiate a ntihyperlipidemic treatment in adriamycin (ADR)-induced progressive gl omerular sclerosis in rats, Glomerular sclerosis was induced by ADR in travenous injection 2 mg/kg, twice, at a 20-day interval, The treatmen t of hyperlipidemia with lovastatin (subcutaneous injection 4 mg/d, 6 times a week) was started either 1 week (ADR-1W; 10 rats) or 8 weeks ( ADR-8W; 10 rats) after the second ADR injection, The mean serum choles terol levels were significantly reduced in both ADR-1W and ADR-8W rats compared with rats without any antihyperlipidemic treatment (ADR-CON; 10 rats), The urinary protein and serum creatinine values, blood pres sure, and glomerular sclerosis score, which markedly increased in ADR- CON rats, decreased significantly in the ADR-1W rats at week 22, Blood pressure, urinary protein excretion, and the glomerular sclerosis sco re were significantly lower in the ADR-1W rats than in the ADR-BW rats at week 22, These results indicate that treatment of hyperlipidemia w eakens the progress of glomerular sclerosis and that such treatment is more effective when begun in the early stages of glomerular disease.