Phosphatidylcholine is the most abundant phospholipid constituent of cell membranes and choline is a quaternary amine required for phosphatidylcholine synthesis. The impairment of membrane functions is considered as an indication of oxidative damage. In order to kinetically analyze the time course of the pathogenesis of renal necrosis following to choline deficiency in weanling rats, we determined markers of membrane lipid peroxidation (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances; TBARS and hydroperoxide-induced chemiluminescence (BOOH-CL) ) and studied the histopathological damage. Plasma TBARS (t(1/2) = 2.5 days) was an early indicator of systemic oxidative stress, likely involving liver and kidney. The levels of TBARS an BOOH-CL increased by 80% and by 183%, respectively, in kidney homogenates with t(1/2) = 1.5 days and 4 days, respectively. The levels of BOOH-CL were statistically higher in rats fed a choline-deficient diet at day 6, in a mixture of membranes (from plasmatic, smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi), in mitochondrial membranes and in lysosomal membranes. The results indicate that choline deficiency produces oxidative damage in kidney subcellular membranes. Necrosis involved mainly convoluted tubules and appeared with a t(1/2) = 5.5 days. An increase in the production of reactive oxygen species, triggered by NADH overproduction in the mitochondrial dysfunction associated with choline deficiency appears as one of the pathogenic mechanism of mitochondrial and cellular oxidative damage in choline-deficiency.
The present results show that mild hyperhomocysteinemia is able to induce renal functional and biochemical alterations in male adult rats that are not associated with renal histopathologic changes.
Weanling rats fed a choline-deficient diet develop kidney oxidative damage, tubular and cortical kidney necrosis, renal failure and animal death. The effect of dietary menhaden oil was assayed on the mentioned sequence correlating oxidative stress with renal structure and function. Rats were fed ad libitum 4 different diets: (a) a choline-deficient diet with corn oil and sunflower hydrogenated oil as a source of fatty acids; (b) the same diet supplemented with choline; (c) a choline-deficient diet with menhaden oil as a source of fatty acids; and (d) the previous diet supplemented with choline. Animals were sacrificed at days 0, 2, 4 and 7. The histopathological study of the kidneys showed that renal necrosis was only observed at day 7 in choline-deficient rats receiving the vegetable oil diet, simultaneously with increased creatinine plasma levels. Homogenate chemiluminescence (BOOH-initiated chemiluminescence) and phospholipid oxidation indicate the development of oxidative stress and damage in choline-deficient rats fed vegetable oils as well as the protective effect of menhaden oil. Rats fed with the fish oil diet showed that oxidative stress and damage develop later, as compared with vegetable oil, with no morphological damage during the experimental period.
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