Autophagy activation, histopathological damage, and altered renal epithelial sodium channel and Na+,K+‐ATPase gene expression in offspring kidney after in utero exposure to allethrin

Abstract

The goal of the current study was to determine the effects of the allethrin, as a pyrethroid-based insecticide, on kidney function in rat offspring. Sixty-day-old Wistar albino female rats were randomly allocated to three groups: control group and two allethrin-treated groups that were intragastrically administered with 34.2 or 68.5 mg/kg b.w. of allethrin starting from the day 6 of pregnancy until delivery. The results revealed that the high dose of allethrin (68.5 mg/kg) reduced the number of glomeruli. Results showed that the glomeruli diameter in animals treated with 34.2 mg/kg of allethrin significantly decreased when compared to the controls (p < 0.001) whereas at the dose of 68.5 mg/kg the glomeruli diameter was significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.05). Interestingly, the expression of the autophagic markers Beclin-1 and LC-3 was increased when compared to control indicating an induction of the autophagic mechanism. Furthermore, allethrin administration downregulated in a dose-dependent manner the expression of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) gene. The mRNA levels of Na+/K+- ATPase gene were significantly higher in the group treated with the low dose and significantly lower with the high dose, when compared to control. However, there was no effect of allethrin on the gene expression of NHE3 in both treated groups. Taken together, the findings of this study suggested that the exposure to allethrin might contribute to the nephrotoxicity by affecting the number and the diameter of glomeruli, causing histopathological alterations and inducing autophagic-related markers and affecting the mRNA levels of ENaC and Na+/ K + ATPase genes.