Oxidative stress and increase in apoptosis index of neutrophils from dogs with prerenal azotemia

This study aims to test the hypothesis that, similarly to what occurs in uremia, dogs with prerenal azotemia suffer oxidative stress associated with changes in oxidative metabolism and apoptosis in neutrophils. For this purpose, fifteen normal dogs and ten with prerenal azotemia had lipid peroxidation determined by quantifying the malondialdehyde (MDA) and had plasma total antioxidant status evaluated, correlating them with the superoxide production and apoptotic index of neutrophils. MDA and plasma total antioxidant status were determined using commercial reagents. Using capillary flow cytometry, superoxide production and apoptosis were determined from isolated neutrophils of peripheral blood using the hydrithidine and Annexin V-PE probe system, respectively. Azotemic dogs (26.29 +/- 5.32g/L) had a lower concentration (p=0.0264) of the plasma antioxidant albumin than the control group (30.36 +/- 3.29g/L) and also had lower (p=0.0027) total antioxidant status (2.36 +/- 0.32 versus 2.73 +/- 0.24mmol/L), while no alterations were observed in plasma lipid peroxidation and superoxide production. It was concluded that, similarly to what occurs in uremia, prerenal azotemia causes oxidative stress and acceleration of neutrophil apoptosis in dogs.