Low urine osmolarity as a determinant of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity.

Cisplatin is widely used in the treatment of human tumors, but it is a nephrotoxic drug. Early pragmatic clinical trials have shown that cisplatin-induced renal toxicity is greatly reduced through the use of high hydration, a large NaCl supply and mannitol infusion, but the precise mechanisms of these nephroprotective measures are not fully understood. We show here an increase in the cisplatin uptake and cytotoxicity on 56/10 A1 human glomerular and HK-2 human tubular cells when the drug incubation was performed in a hypotonic phosphate-buffered saline solution or in human urine ("drag in" transport hypothesis).

Intrarenal detection of nitric oxide using electron spin resonance spectroscopy in hypertensive lipopolysaccharide-treated rats.

The inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis by chronic administration of NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME) in rats is responsible for systemic hypertension. However, the mechanisms involved in this hypertension remain unclear. The effects of chronic l-NAME on kidney and blood NO production were studied in rats in a state of endotoxic shock due to lipopolysaccharide (LPS).

Vitamin E-coated dialyzer reduces oxidative stress in hemodialysis patients.

The high incidence of cardiovascular disease in hemodialyzed (HD) patients is well established and oxidative stress has been involved in this phenomenon. The aim of our study was to evaluate if a vitamin E-coated dialyzer could offer protection to HD patients against oxidative stress. Sixteen HD patients were successively assessed for one month (i) on a high biocompatible synthetic dialyzer (AN) and (ii) on a vitamin E-coated dialyzer (VE).

Alteration in plasma antioxidant capacities in chronic renal failure and hemodialysis patients: a possible explanation for the increased cardiovascular risk in these patients.

Objective: The high incidence of cardiovascular diseases in chronic renal failure (CRF) and hemodialyzed (HD) patients is now well established and the involvement of oxidative stress has been hypothesized in these phenomena. The aim of our study was to evaluate the level of oxidative stress in healthy controls (CTL) compared with CRF and HD patients before (pre-HD) and after (post-HD) the dialysis session, carried out on a high biocompatible polyacrylonitrile membrane AN69.

Methods: Several indicators of the extracellular redox status were evaluated in plasma.

Fibrinogen A alpha chain mutation (Arg554 Leu) associated with hereditary renal amyloidosis in a French family.

A French family with hereditary renal amyloidosis (HRA) was studied. The disease presented in 7 of the 8 affected individuals with proteinuria or the nephrotic syndrome. The age of onset was in the fifth decade of life.