RENAL IMMUNOLOCALIZATION OF KALLIKREIN IN CISPLATIN NEPHROTOXICITY INRATS

Treatment of rats with cisplatin (4 mg kg-1 body wt i.p. injection) in duced variations of urinary kallikrein excretion (UKE). Three phases w ere observed: a transient increase of UKE one day after injection, fol lowed by a decrease up to 10 days suggesting an altered biosynthesis a nd a recovery phase with return to normal control values, 21 days afte r injection. Early morphological lesions were observed in proximal tub ule cells on day 1; severe changes and tubular necrosis were observed in the following days. Less marked changes were also present in distal tubules but the vacuolated and desquamated cells appeared in the lume n of the tubules. By immunocytochemical methods, kallikrein was observ ed in connecting tubule cells, but also in some proximal tubule cells and along the endothelial side of the glomerular basement membrane and urinary space of glomeruli. An intense labelling was present in desqu amated epithelial cells in dilated lumen of tubules. This study provid es evidence of the presence of immunoreactive kallikrein in the glomer ulus, already reported during acute failure, and confirms the use of u rinary kallikrein measurements as a useful non-invasive index to asses s a possible nephrotoxic effect at the distal level.