N-acetylcysteine Prevents Kidney and Lung Disturbances in Renal Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Rat

Abstract

Background: One of the most common causes of acute kidney injury (AKI) is kidney ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI). The distant organ injury such as acute lung injury is one of the side effects of AKI or kidney IRI. In this study, we performed bilateral renal IRI in rats and the protective role of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in kidney and lung was investigated.

Methods: Rats (n = 30) were randomly assigned to four experiment groups. The group 1 was assigned as sham-operated group. Before kidney IRI performance, the others groups were treated with saline (group 2), 150 mg/kg (group 3) or 500 mg/kg (group 4) of NAC, and the treatment were continued daily after IRI for next 3 days. At day 3, the all groups' animals were subjected for the measurements.

Results: The serum level of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (Cr) in the control group increased significantly (P < 0.05), and administration of NAC (150 mg/kg) decreased the serum levels of Cr and BUN. However, only the serum level of Cr decreased significantly (P < 0.05). NAC did not improve kidney weight and damage; however, its low dose (150 mg/kg) attenuated the lung injury score (P < 0.05) when compared with the control group. No significant differences were observed in lung water content and endothelial permeability, serum levels of malondialdehyde and nitrite between the groups.

Conclusions: Low dose of NAC as a protectant agent may protect the kidney function and lung tissue damage after kidney IRI.

Keywords: Kidney; NAC; lung endothelial permeability; lung water content; rat; renal IRI.

Figure 1

(a-b) Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum level of creatinine (Cr). (c) Total kidney weight (KW)/100 g body weight, (d) Kidney tissue damage score (KTDS). (e-f) Serum and kidney malondialdehyde levels. * and # indicate significantly different from the sham and the control groups (P < 0.05), respectively

Figure 2

Kidney (K) and lung (L) tissue images (magnification × 100). K1 to K4 and L1 to L4 demonstrate the kidney and lung tissues image of groups 1 to 4. More tissue damages were observed in group 2 (K2 and L2). The low dose of N-acetylcysteine (150 mg/kg, K3 and L3) indicate less tissue damage

Figure 3

(a-b) Serum and kidney nitrite. (c) Percentage (%) of lung water content. (d) Lung endothelial permeability. (e) Lung tissue damage score (LTDS). (f) Percentage (%) of body weight change. *, #, and †: Significantly different from the sham group, control group, and group 3, respectively