Metabolic alterations in proximal tubule suspensions obtained from ischemic kidneys

A viable suspension of proximal tubules that had sustained an in vivo ischemic injury was harvested, and cellular integrity and viability were determined. The histopathological appearance of this preparation has characteristic features of an ischemic injury and ATP levels were comparable to those observed with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in vivo. Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to 45 min of bilateral renal artery ischemia and the kidneys were allowed to reperfuse for either 15 min, 2 h, or 24 h before the harvest of the proximal tubule suspension. There was a decrease in base-line oxygen consumption from 34 +/- 0.8 nmol O2.min-1.mg protein-1 to 22 +/- 0.6 at 15 min of reflow. This decline in oxygen consumption persisted during the first 2 h of reflow and returned to control levels by 24 h. Residual respiration in the presence of ouabain was similar at all reflow intervals suggesting that the decrease in basal O2 consumption was related to decreased Na+-K+-ATPase in situ. In contrast, there was no significant difference in Na+-K+-ATPase activity when determined chemically under Vmax conditions in all experimental groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)