Impact of repeated extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy on prepubertal rat kidney

This study aimed to investigate the effects of repeated extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) on the kidneys of prepubertal and adult rats. Thirty rats were used: 15 were prepubertal (3 weeks of age) with an average body weight of 72.3 ± 3.3 g, and 15 were adults with of 265 ± 11.3 g. The prepubertal and adult rats were separately and randomly allocated to three groups, each consisting of five rats. Following anesthetization, the left kidney of each rat in each group received shock waves in one, two, or three sessions separated by 72 h. The rats in each group were killed 72 h after the last ESWL session, and both kidneys were harvested; the right kidney was used as the control. Renal injury was examined with histological analysis, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot to detecting the expression of heat-shock protein-70, tumor necrosis factor-alpha-α, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 as markers of renal damage. All of these markers were similarly increased with increased ESWL sessions in both age groups. Histological analysis revealed more serious fibrosis and inflammation in the ESWL-treated kidneys in both groups than in the controls, with the damage increasing with increasing numbers of sessions. ESWL on the kidney increased renal damage according to the number of sessions in both age groups of rats, and the effects of ESWL on renal injury were similar in the two groups. However, there were generally no significant differences in the effects of ESWL on molecular indicators of renal injury between prepubertal and adult rats.