Effects of hypercholesterolemia on contrast media-induced nephrotoxicity in rats

Abstract

To explore the effects of short- and long-term dietary hypercholesterolemia on contrast media-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. The male Wistar rats were fed either a normal rodent diet or a high cholesterol diet. At the end of 2 and 8 weeks, 8 rats from each group received a tail vein injection of either Iohexol injection (groups NC and HC) or vehicle (groups N and H). Blood lipid, renal function, renal hemodynamics, renal and urinary prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and thromboxane B2 (TXB2), renal nitric oxide and malondialdehyde (MDA) were determined at Day 1 following the administration of contrast media. The dosing of contrast media induced obviously increased serum creatinine compared with normal rats ((185 ± 28) vs (53 ± 3) µmol/L, P < 0.01) and severe renal tubular necrosis in rats with a high cholesterol diet for 8 weeks but did not in normal-diet rats or rats with a high cholesterol diet for 2 weeks. The renal and urinary levels of PGE2 and TXB2 increased significantly in rats of groups H and HC at the end of 8 weeks. The renal production of nitric oxide decreased while the concentration of MDA increased markedly in groups HC and H at the end of 8 weeks. Long-term hypercholesterolemia appears to be a risk factor of contrast media-induced acute renal failure. And it may be associated with the disorder of intrarenal prostaglandins and the abnormality of renal nitric oxide system as induced by lipid peroxidation.