SELECTIVE DEPLETION OF CD8-POSITIVE LEUKOCYTES DOES NOT ALTER MERCURIC-CHLORIDE INDUCED ACUTE-RENAL-FAILURE IN THE RAT

The process of injury and regeneration in different models of acute re nal failure is accompanied by the transient interstitial accumulation of mononuclear leukocytes. The relationship between these accumulated cells and the onset and progression of the regeneration process result ing in the complete functional and morphological recovery is still a m atter of debate. In this process cell subsets may either be selectivel y important or combine to a communicative network, signalling the cell s at the site of injury. In a first trial to investigate this hypothes is, the CD8-positive subset of leukocytes, consisting mainly of cytoto xic and suppressor T lymphocytes and to a lesser extent of natural kil ler cells, was depleted in vivo in rats by means of a monoclonal antib ody directed against CD8. Although the depletion obtained evidently pr evented the infiltration of these cells into the renal interstitium, i t could not influence neither the development nor the resolution of re nal insufficiency in response to mercuric chloride administration as c ompared with control animals who had received an irrelevant isotype-ma tched monoclonal antibody. The extent of renal damage was unaffected a s were onset and duration of renal epithelial cell proliferation. Cons equently, these data do not support a major role for the CD8-positive cell subset per se in the development of acute nephrotoxic injury and subsequent regeneration.