Kidney ischaemia-reperfusion injury and polyribosome structure

Inhibition of protein synthesis and polyribosome disaggregation are the early events in cell injury provoked by various pathogenic mechanisms, including energy depletion. Polyribosome disaggregation might be expected to occur during ischaemia-reperfusion injury due to ischaemic energy depletion, but also due to detrimental effects of reactive oxygen species on various macromolecules and cellular structures.

Mouse kidney ischaemia-reperfusion injury was provoked by temporary clamping of the renal artery. The polyribosome sedimentation pattern was analyzed by sucrose density centrifugation of kidney postmitochondrial supernatant.

Ischaemia for 5 min in the mouse kidney provoked polyribosome disaggregation and an increase of monomer ribosome fraction which was augmented during 10-360 min of reperfusion. Recovery of polyribosome aggregates appeared between 6 and 24 h of reperfusion. Cycloheximide pretreatment prevented only polyribosome disaggregation caused by ischaemia and not that caused by reperfusion. This indicates different mechanisms of polyribosome disaggregation during ischaemia and reperfusion. It probably occurs in the former due to inhibition of initiation of translation, resulting in accumulation of unprogrammed monomer ribosomes, and in the latter due to the splitting of mRNA and breakdown of polyribosomes. Reperfusion did not increase ribonuclease activity in kidney cytosol, but increased the tissue concentration of malonaldehyde, indicating an augmentation in oxygen free radical generation. Possibly these may have caused a non-enzymatic breakdown of polyribosomes. However, pretreatment with allopurinol did not prevent polyribosome breakdown during ischaemia-reperfusion injury.