Acute kidney injury model established by systemic glutathione depletion in mice

Glutathione (GSH) is one of the most extensively studied tripeptides. The roles for GSH in redox signaling, detoxification of xenobiotics and antioxidant defense have been investigated. A drug-induced rhabdomyolysis mouse model was recently established in L-buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoximine (BSO; a GSH synthesis inhibitor)-treated normal mice by co-administration of antibacterial drug and statin. In these models, mild kidney injury was observed in the BSO only-treated mice. Therefore, in this study, we studied kidney injury in the GSH-depleted mouse. BSO was intraperitoneally administered twice a day for 7 days to normal mice. The maximum level of plasma creatine phosphokinase (351 487 ± 53 815 U/L) was shown on day 8, and that of aspartate aminotransferase was shown on day 6. Increased levels of blood urea nitrogen, plasma creatinine, urinary kidney injury molecule-1 and urinary creatinine were observed. An increase of mRNA expression level of renal lipocalin 2/neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin was observed. Degeneration and necrosis in the skeletal muscle and high concentrations of myoglobin (Mb) in blood (347-203 925 ng/mL) and urine (2.5-68 583 ng/mL) with large interindividual variability were shown from day 5 of BSO administration. Mb-stained regions in the renal tubule and renal cast were histologically observed. In this study, the GSH-depletion treatment established an acute kidney injury mouse model due to Mb release from the damaged skeletal muscle. This mouse model would be useful for predicting potential acute kidney injury risks in non-clinical drug development.