Serological, pathological and scintigraphic assessment of Hemiscorpius lepturus effects on renal dysfunction in rats

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 The Persian Gulf Tropical Research Center, Biochemistry Group, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

2 Departments of Physiology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

3 The Persian Gulf Nuclear Medicine Research Center, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

4 Department of Pathology, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

5 College of Veterinary Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South Korea

6 Department of Human Vaccine and Serum, Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Karaj, Iran

7 Department of Nephrology, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

8 Department of Pharmacology, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

Abstract

Objective(s): Hemiscorpius lepturus is one of the dangerous scorpions of Iran leading to acute kidney injury (AKI) especially in infants. The purpose of this animal study was to compare the serological, pathological and scintigraphic data to quickly predict the occurrence of this disorder.
Materials and Methods: In two groups of animals, each contained five rats, H. lepturus venom (1200 µg/Kg) were injected intravenously via the tail vein. At three hours and one week later, 99m Tc-DMSA (3 mCi) was intravenously injected and renal scintigraphy was performed after an hour. Moreover, plasma levels of creatinine, sodium, potassium, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were measured. At the end of the study, renal tissues were excised and prepared to perform pathological evaluation after Hematoxylin and Eosin staining.
Results: All serological indices were remained unchanged compared to control. A large number of glomerular fibrin thrombi with entrapped red blood cells and simplified tubular epithelium in dilated and ectatic tubules were observed in high power field (×100) four hours after envenomation, which reduced significantly one week later. In our scintigraphic study, there was a statistically significant difference (P<0.05) in kidney count rate per pixels (CRPP) in both acute and chronic phases compared to the sham group that received normal saline (0.84±0.05 and 1.36±0.07 versus 1.7±0.05).
Conclusion: The results of this preliminary animal study suggest renal scintigraphy is a non-invasive method to predict the occurrence of the AKI in H. lepturus envenomation. It leads the way for more investigation to counteract the renal failure induced by this venom.

Keywords

Main Subjects


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