Objectives: 

Nitric oxide (NO) play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of myoglobinuric acute kidney injury (MAKI). It has been shown with several studies that inhibition of arginase enzyme activity may increase levels of arginine and NO. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of arginase enzyme inhibitors on the MAKI formed by injecting hypertonic glycerol intramuscularly (im).

Materials: 

Male Spraque Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 main groups (A, B and C), different periods of MAKI (24, 48 and 96 hours) was formed. These three main groups were also divided to 4 subgroups, a control group (saline, 8 ml/kg, im), control + nor-NOHA (saline, 8 ml/kg, im; nor-NOHA, 10 mg/kg, ip), Glycerol group (%50 glycerol, 8 ml/kg, im) and Glycerol + nor-NOHA (saline, 8 ml/kg, im) group (%50 glycerol, 8 ml/kg, im; nor-NOHA, 10 mg/kg, ip). Injection of nor-NOHA; Group A, B and C rats was given 1, 2 and 4 times, respectively. Rats were sacrificed 24 (group A), 48 (group B), and 96 hours (group C) after glycerol administration. The Mann-Whitney U tests were used for statistical analysis.

Results: 

Serum urea and creatinine levels and arginase activity increased significantly in glycerol groups compared with control groups in all groups. Serum (Group A and B) and kidney (all groups) arginine levels significantly decreased. Although serum NO levels increased, kidney NO levels significantly decreased in group A. Using an arginase inhibitor, nor-NOHA, did not significantly influence all the parameters.

Conclusions: 

We failed to find any beneficial effect of nor-NOHA on renal function, arginase activity, NO and arginine levels in MAKI. Detailed studies are needed to clarify the effects of nor-NOHA in different doses and treatment duration in glycerol-induced acute kidney injury model.

The present study was supported by grants from The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK, project no:110S098)