Glucocorticoid amelioration of nephrotoxicity: a study of cephaloridine-methylprednisolone interaction in the rat.

Groups of ten male rats were treated with a high challenge dose of cephaloridine (CPH, 3750 mg kg-1), with methylprednisolone (MP, 100 mg kg-1) or with cephaloridine and methylprednisolone (CPH + MP) by single subcutaneous injection. A control group received the injection vehicles only. Urine was collected from all animals daily over 18-h collection periods, up to 96 h after treatment. Blood was collected at 24, 48, 72 and 96 h after treatment. At necropsy, kidneys were weighed, processed and examined histopathologically. Results show that methylprednisolone significantly ameliorated the nephrotoxicity of the challenge dose of cephaloridine. CPH-only treated rats had severe toxic nephrosis characterised by acute tubular necrosis, and elevated blood urea and creatinine. By contrast, the majority of CPH + MP treated rats had only a slight or moderate toxic nephrosis, and had lower blood urea and creatinine levels compared with rats treated with CPH only, indicating preservation of kidney function. Interestingly, rats treated with CPH + MP had higher urinary enzymes (alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, gamma glutamyltransferase and N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase) as well as protein and glucose, compared with rats treated with CPH only. This is taken to indicate that rats treated with CPH only had such marked kidney damage and necrosis that the population of cells able to produce these marker enzymes was significantly and rapidly depleted, but the protection afforded by methylprednisolone allowed CPH + MP treated rats to sustain urinary enzyme output. Effects on urinary glucose and other parameters such as body weight and kidney weight demonstrate interactions between glucocorticoid pharmacology and cephaloridine nephrotoxicity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Corticosterone does not cause testicular toxicopathology in the rat: relevance to methylxanthines, ACTH and stress.

1. Methylxanthines, ACTH and stress are well known to produce testicular pathology (e.g. seminiferous tubule atrophy). Methylxanthines, ACTH and stress alter hormone secretion, particularly from the pituitary-adrenocortical system. Consequently, it has recently been suggested that there may be a causal relationship between changes in endogenous physiological adrenocortical secretions, particularly corticosterone, and testicular pathology. 2. This study tested the hypothesis that corticosterone mediates the testicular effects of both methylxanthine treatment and stress. Corticosterone was administered daily by subcutaneous injection to groups of 10 male rats at dose levels of 2 or 20 mg kg-1 in propylene glycol (1 ml kg-1) for 1 month (the shortest duration of methylxanthine or ACTH exposure known to produce testicular pathology). The highest dose of corticosterone resulted in plasma concentrations that closely matched values resulting from stress (200-700 ng ml-1) compared with controls (< 25 ng ml-1). 3. The highest dose of corticosterone caused reduced body weight gain, lower thymus, adrenal, seminal vesicle and prostate weights, but did not induce any testicular pathology. 4. That a high, but physiologically relevant, dose of corticosterone did not cause testicular pathology in this experiment excludes this steroid in the direct aetiology of methylxanthine, ACTH and stress-induced testicular pathology. Other steroids secreted from the adrenal, in combination with corticosterone, may be involved.

Effects of toxic doses of a novel histamine (H2) antagonist on the rat thyroid gland.

The oral administration of high doses of a histamine H2 antagonist SK&F 93479 (up to 1000 mg/kg/day) to male rats for up to 21 days resulted in alterations in thyroid morphology indicative of increased activity of the thyroid gland. Measurement of thyroidal 125I incorporation substantiated these findings. Treatment with SK&F 93479 resulted in a dose-dependent increase in thyroidal iodide incorporation. This was apparent after a single dose of the compound and was reversible after dosing for 7 days. The increased incorporation of 125I into the thyroid gland was apparently dependent on thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) since both hypophysectomy and pretreatment with thyroxine (T4) markedly reduced thyroidal 125I uptake. Hypothalamic thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and pituitary TSH concentrations were not altered by SK&F 93479 treatment, and in TRH challenge experiments circulating TSH concentrations showed no change from control levels. These data suggest that hypothalamic-pituitary sensitivity was unaltered by treatment with SK&F 93479. Pharmacological ablation of thyroidal mast-cell function did not alter the thyroid response to 125I accumulation after SK&F 93479 dosing, indicating that the action of the compound is probably not dependent on changes in thyroid mast-cell histamine. Circulating T4 and TSH levels were altered in SK&F 93479-treated rats. Generally, T4 levels were reduced 6 hr after dosing and TSH levels were elevated 24 hr after dosing. Triiodothyronine (T3) levels were unaffected by SK&F 93479 treatment. The effect of SK&F 93479 treatment on T4 clearance was measured by examining the elimination of radioactivity from the circulation of rats previously injected with 125I-labelled T4. One oral dose of 1000 mg SK&F 93479/kg markedly increased T4 clearance. These results suggest that SK&F 93479 affects thyroid activity indirectly by a primary effect on T4 clearance. Reductions in circulating T4 lead to increased TSH levels and subsequent stimulation of thyroid activity.

Cardiotoxicity of a new inotrope/vasodilator drug (SK&F 94120) in the dog.

The cardiotoxicity and haemodynamic changes induced by IV administration of high doses of SK&F 94120, a novel positive inotrope/vasodilator, were studied in the dog. Inotropism was observed at a dose of 0.375 mg/kg. Mean blood pressure was reduced in a dose-related manner, reaching a nadir of 43.7 mm Hg at 24 mg/kg. Heart rate was increased at doses of 1.5 mg/kg and above. ECG examination revealed a shortening of PR interval and an increase in T-wave amplitude. At doses of 15 mg/kg and above, occasional AV dissociation with accrochage were sometimes seen shortly after the start of the infusion. Ventricular extrasystoles were only seen at doses of 120 mg/kg and above. A dose-related increase in severity and incidence of haemorrhages, deposition of haemosiderin and fibroplasia were seen in the left ventricular endocardium and atrioventricular valves at doses of 15 mg/kg and above. Focal myocardial necrosis, predominantly of the left ventricular papillary muscle, and mild periarteritis of medium-sized extramural arteries, mostly in the right atrium, were seen at doses of 45 mg/kg and above. Intimal proliferation of intra- and extramural coronary vessels was observed. A necrotising peri/panarteritis of these arteries was noted at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg. The cardiotoxicity observed was considered to be due to the exaggerated pharmacologic effects seen at these high dose levels.

The induction by 224Ra of myeloid leukaemia and osteosarcoma in male CBA mice.

Radium-224 was injected into 12-week-old male CBA mice in the range 2-64 kBq per mouse either as a single injection or as eight injections spaced at 3.5 day intervals over 4 weeks. Small but significant yields of myeloid leukaemia or osteosarcoma were obtained in all but the control groups. An effect of mode of administration (single or multiple injections) could not be demonstrated but the combined results showed: a maximum yield of myeloid leukaemia in the region 8-16 kBq 224Ra; a greater yield of osteosarcoma than myeloid leukaemia at 64 kBq 224 Ra injected.

Myeloid leukaemia frequency after protracted exposure to ionizing radiation: experimental confirmation of the flat dose-response found in ankylosing spondylitis after a single treatment course with X-rays.

The dose-response for leukaemia induction by exposure to ionizing radiation protracted over several weeks was largely independent of dose not only in X-rayed patients with ankylosing spondylitis but also in experimentally gamma-rayed CBA/H mice. In the experiment the induced leukaemia frequency of acute myeloid leukaemia was independent of a several thousand-fold variation in physical dose rate. Any difference in leukaemia induction between brief and protracted exposures must therefore depend on specifically biological consequences of protracted exposures. Experimental analysis is required to provide the guides for inference about risks of low level exposure from observations on relatively heavily irradiated populations.

The carcinogenic effect of localized fission fragment irradiation of rat lung.

In a preliminary investigation of 'hot particle' carcinogenesis uranium oxide particles were introduced into the lungs of rats either by intubation of a liquid suspension of the particles or by inhalation of an aerosol. Subsequently the animals were briefly exposed to slow neutrons in a nuclear reactor, resulting in localized irradiation of the lung by fission fragments emitted from 235U atoms in the oxide particles. The uranium used in the intubation experiments was either enriched or depleted in 235U. Squamous cell carcinomas developed at the site of deposition of the enriched uranium oxide in many cases but no lung tumours occurred in the rats with the depleted uranium oxide, in which the lung tissue was exposed to very few fission fragments. Only enriched uranium oxide was used in the inhalation experiments. Pulmonary squamous cell carcinomas occurred after the fission fragment irradiation but were fewer than in the intubation experiments. Adenocarcinomas of the lung were seen in rats exposed to uranium oxide without subsequent irradiation by neutrons in the reactor and in rats irradiated with neutrons but not previously exposed to uranium oxide. It is concluded that (i) fission fragments were possibly implicated in the genesis of the squamous cell carcinomas, which only developed in those animals exposed to enriched uranium oxide and neutrons and (ii) the adenocarcinomas in the rats inhaling enriched uranium oxide only were likely to have been caused by protracted irradiation of the lung with alpha-rays emitted from the enriched uranium.

Induction of myeloid leukaemia by whole-body single exposure of CBA male mice to x-rays.

A curvilinear dose response of myeloid leukaemia induction in the CBA male mouse was obtained after single whole-body X-irradiation at about 3 months of age. This strain has a very low spontaneous incidence of the disease and no cases were found in the unirradiated controls. The incidence was independent of dose rate over the range used (4.2-552 rad/min). Diagnosis required histopathological examination of various body tissues, the gross anatomical changes being easily confused with other haemopoietic disorders, but a few cases were recognized in life from blood samples. Curve-fitting to various models based on theories of radiocarcinogenic mechanism is described.

The induction of adenomata in mouse lung homografts by chemical carcinogens.

Implants of lung from 18-day-old embryo BALB/c mice of an inbred strain were exposed to 3,4-benz(a)pyrene or 1,2,5,6-dibenzanthracene and introduced subcutaneously into 6-week-old mice of the same strain. Lung adenomata developed within 16 weeks.There was no evidence of an effect of either chemical carcinogen on the subcutaneous tissue of the host animal.

Pulmonary adenomata induced by carcinogen treatment in organ culture. Influence of increasing amounts of carcinogen.

Explants of lung from 1 month old inbred BALB/c mice were cultured in vitro for 4 days with 3-methylcholanthrene added to the culture medium at various dose levels. They were subsequently implanted subcutaneously into 6-week-old mice of the same strain.Lung adenomata appeared in a high proportion of explants.

Correlation of initial changes in the mouse epidermal cell population with two stage carcinogenesis-a quantitative study.

The behaviour of the normal epidermis of mice on the first 5 days of exposure to a single application of carcinogens and cocarcinogens has been investigated by simple quantitative measurements of cell population, size of cells and thickness of the epidermis. Irritant substances and promoting agents both produce cellular hypertrophy but the respective responses can be distinguished by the much greater incidence of degenerate cells associated with irritant treatment. Urethane treatment is characterized by induction of a transient hypoplasia which is not in agreement with the level of cellular division. This response has also been demonstrated after treatment with mild carcinogens or low doses of potent carcinogens. Higher dose levels are followed by a reduction in the mitotic index after about 27 hours. The possibility of developing a preliminary screening test for carcinogenic substances is discussed in the light of these observations.