Experimental renal papillary necrosis in the Syrian hamster

These studies evaluate the susceptibility of the Syrian hamster to the induction of renal papillary lesions after exposure to 2-bromethylamine (2-BEA), mefenamic acid, indomethacin, acetaminophen and phenylbutazone. In most cases there were 25 animals per dose group. Papillary necrosis was produced by single or multiple ip doses of 75 mg 2-BEA/kg and above, and was present within 12 hr of administration of a dose of 500 mg/kg body weight. There were lesions in the renal papilla of hamsters 10 days after a single dose of 500 mg 2-BEA/kg. The severity of papillary lesions increased up to 4 days after exposure in hamsters given a single dose of either 250 or 500 mg 2-BEA/kg. The severity of papillary lesions did not increase with the number of doses in hamsters given multiple doses (2-5) of 100 mg 2-BEA/kg. Renal papillary necrosis was observed in about 40% of hamsters given 100, 200 or 400 mg mefenamic acid/kg. Only a few of the hamsters given indomethacin had renal papillary lesions and none of those given acetaminophen (up to 400 mg/kg) or phenylbutazone (up to 600 mg/kg) developed renal papillary lesions.