RESUMO
Wistar rats were administered increasing doses of Russell's viper venom (RVV; 0.025-0.4â¯mg/kg) intraperitoneally to investigate acute kidney injury (AKI) by measuring creatinine (1.5-fold increase in serum creatinine above baseline) and examining kidney histology. Approximately 50% of rats receiving 0.25-0.4â¯mg/kg venom died within 72â¯h. An increase in serum creatinine only occurred at a venom dose of 0.4â¯mg/kg, except in two rats. Acute tubular necrosis, glomerular necrosis, cortical necrosis and interstitial inflammation were observed at venom doses of ≥0.25â¯mg/kg in 12/36 rats. However, of those 12 rats only four survived to 48â¯h compared to the 24 rats not developing nephrotoxicity, in which 18 were alive at 48â¯h. There was poor correlation between histological nephrotoxicity and AKI based on creatinine measurement. The early death in rats with AKI makes this a poor model for studying RVV-induced AKI.
