Effect of L‐arginine supplementation on renal morphology of rats submitted to unilateral ureteral obstruction.

Abstract

This work was designed to study the effect of L‐Arginine (Arg) treatment on renal morphology changes after unilateral ureteral obstruction (UO). Ureteral obstruction was performed by ligation of the left ureter of Male Wistar rats, 3 month old. Four experimental groups were studied: control‐sham operated: C; obstructed: UO; control treated with Arg: CA; obstructed treated with Arg: UOA. Groups CA, and UOA received as drinking water a solution containing arginine 1% and sucrose 1%, since 24 hours before surgery until 14 days of obstruction, when the animals were studied. The groups C and UO received 1% sucrose solution. We studied: glomerular morphology, alpha smooth muscle actin (α‐SMA) expression, macrophage infiltration (ED1), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression and fibrosis. We observed that 14 days after UO, α‐SMA expression and macrophage infiltration (ED1) were increased in UO kidney. In OUA, both α‐SMA expression and ED1 presence were reduced. Glomerular hypertrophy was observed in contralateral kidney from UO rats. The treatment with Arg also reduced this response. These results indicate that L‐arginine supplementation has a beneficial effect on renal morphological changes caused by ureteral obstruction.Supported by FAPESP, CAPES, CNPq.