Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0022672 (acute tubular necrosis)
 2,175 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Reperfusion injury is increasingly recognized as a key factor in the development of posttransplant acute tubular necrosis. Previous studies have shown that addition of the calmodulin inhibitor trifluoperazine (TFP) to Collins' flush solution protected the cortical microcirculatory integrity and dramatically improved renal viability after transplantation. The present report describes the protective effect(s) of TFP in the course of reperfusion injury. Twenty mongrel dogs underwent bilateral nephrectomy; in each instance, the left kidney was flushed immediately with 250 ml of cold Collins' solution, and the right kidney was flushed with the same solution containing TFP, 5 mg/L. After 48 and 72 hr of preservation, each kidney was connected through silastic shunts to the femoral vessels of another dog. The mean renal blood flow (RBF) immediately after reperfusion was 2.2 ml/g/min and 1.7 ml/g/min in the left and right kidneys, respectively, and was similar to mean RBF measurements prior to nephrectomy. After 15 min of reperfusion, there was a sharp decrease in mean RBF in the Collins' flushed kidneys, which persisted after 60 min of reperfusion (0.37 ml/g/min). In contrast, there was only a mild decrease in mean RBF in the TFP-flushed kidneys (1.27 ml/g/min). A partial explanation for the favorable effect of TFP may be related to the inability of the ischemic cell to handle the increased calcium load associated with reperfusion (calcium paradox). In a test of this possibility, 0.5 mg/kg of verapamil, a calcium channel blocker, was infused during reperfusion. No beneficial effects of this drug were noted in either Collins' or TFP-flushed kidneys (n = 10). However, when 1.25 mg/kg of captopril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, was infused at the time of reperfusion, a dramatic amelioration of the reperfusion injury occurred in the Collins' flushed kidneys (1.2 ml/g/min) (n = 10). Taken together, these data suggest that the damage to cold-preserved kidneys flushed with Collins' solution alone may occur at the time of actual reperfusion. Such reperfusion damage is ameliorated by TFP and captopril. The known relationship between calcium and the effect of angiotensin on the vascular smooth muscle cell may explain in part the protective role of calcium inhibitors placed in preserved kidneys prior to reperfusion.
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PMID:The protective effect of calcium inhibitors and of captopril on the renal microcirculation during reperfusion. 309 41

Many antihypertensive agents have been demonstrated to assist in preservation of kidney function, among them those that modulate calcium channels. Calcium channel blockers may also be of value in protecting hemodialysis patients from complications of sepsis. In diabetic recipients of kidney transplant allografts treated with cyclosporine, calcium channel blockade has been retrospectively linked to improved graft preservation and to fewer episodes of sepsis. This brief review outlines clinical and experimental publications on potential protection from sepsis by addition of calcium channel blockers to standard antibiotic therapy in individuals who may or may not have normal kidney function, or in the presence or absence of immunosuppression. Such mechanisms include blockade of antibiotic cytosolic extrusion in the cases of Pneumococci, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Plasmodium falciparum malaria, or Schistosoma mansoni; blockade of the calcineurin/calmodulin pathway (in immunosuppressed patients allowing for lower dosage of cyclosporine); stabilization of calcium movement at the level of sarcoplasmic reticulum by which shock (vasopressor instability) is prevented; or of cytosolic calcium influx and cell death (in the case of allograft acute tubular necrosis). Given the high cost of development of new antibiotics, a role for generic calcium channel blockade in sepsis prevention should be pursued by additional studies to investigate potential links between blockade of calcium channels and expression of sepsis in at-risk populations.
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PMID:Does calcium channel blockade have a role in prevention of expression of sepsis in renal transplant recipients? 2792 May 69