Assessment of nephrotoxicity in the chick embryo: effects of cisplatin and 1,2-dibromoethane.

Morphological symptoms of mesonephric kidney damage were analysed in chick embryos treated with nephrotoxic agents--CDDP or DBE. The drugs were administered intraamniotically on ED 3 at doses 0.03 and 0.3 microg CDDP or 100 and 300 microg DBE per embryo. Body weight and absolute and relative measures of the mesonephroi (length, weight and form) were evaluated on ED 10. The higher doses of both agents affected the mass of this organ significantly. Simultaneously, a dose-dependent increase of renal malformations was detected in treated embryos, while the incidence of gross and cardiovascular defects was low (DBE) or absent (CDDP). Together with less pronounced effects on the total body growth, the results gave evidence for a higher sensitivity of the mesonephros to toxic insult when compared to the whole organism. A direct cytotoxic effect multiplied by concomitant injury of blood supply seemed to be the main cause of CDDP nephrotoxicity. In the case of DBE, damage to the mesonephros was probably associated with a primary impairment of the vascular network. The chick embryo in ovo provides a promising system for the assessment of nephrotoxic effects induced by prospective therapeutic agents and environmental contaminants during the prenatal period.