The roles of platelet-activating factor and endothelin-1 in renal damage after total hepatic ischemia and reperfusion.

BACKGROUND

This study was designed to verify the involvement of platelet-activating factor (PAF) in renal damage associated with hepatic ischemia and reperfusion (HIR) injury through the release of endothelin (ET)-1 and to determine the modulating effect of a specific PAF receptor antagonist on these insults in rats.

METHODS

Male rats pretreated with either normal saline as a vehicle (NS group) or intravenous TCV-309, a PAF receptor antagonist (TCV group), were subjected to 120 min of total hepatic ischemia under an extracorporeal portosystemic shunt. Plasma aspartate transaminase, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, and ET-1 levels and the relative renal wet weight were determined under nonischemic conditions and at 1, 3, and 6 hr of reperfusion after hepatic ischemia. Changes in mean arterial blood pressure and renal tissue blood flow measurements in the kidney were determined throughout the experiment.

RESULTS

Increased plasma aspartate transaminase, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, and ET-1 levels and the relative renal wet weight after HIR in the NS group were significantly suppressed by TCV-309 pretreatment. Mean arterial blood pressure and renal tissue blood flow after HIR in the TCV group were significantly improved when compared with those in the NS group. These effects resulted in attenuation of structural hepatic and renal damage with the improvement of 7-day survival (62%).

CONCLUSIONS

The present study demonstrates that renal damage as well as critical liver injury is produced after reperfusion following 120 min of total hepatic ischemia. A PAF receptor antagonist may be therapeutically useful to protect against these types of damage via indirect modulation of plasma ET-1 levels.