Urine profiles and kidney histology following intravenous diatrizoate and iohexol in the degeneration phase of gentamicin nephropathy in rats. Effects on urine and serum profiles.

Urine chemical profiles were followed for three or nine days after intravenous injection of diatrizoate, iohexol, or saline in 30 rats, where a tubulointerstitial nephropathy was induced by gentamicin given over an eight-day period. Another ten rats injected with saline served as controls. Compared to injection of saline, both iohexol and diatrizoate induced dysfunction. The excretion of the cytoplasmic enzyme lactate dehydrogenase was significantly greater following iohexol than following diatrizoate. No significant differences between the two media were shown by the various serum components examined. Among the gentamicin-treated rats, light microscopy showed prolonged occurrence of tubular necrosis and a more intensive round cell infiltration following iohexol than following diatrizoate and saline. Both contrast media induced further temporary renal dysfunction in rats with gentamicin nephropathy; iohexol induced more morphologic changes than diatrizoate.