Urinary d‐lactate levels reflect renal function in aristolochic acid‐induced nephropathy in mice

Urinary d ‐lactate is highly correlated to diabetic nephropathy – a progressive kidney disease in renal glomeruli. In this study, we used a C3H/3e mouse model to investigate the relationship between urinary d ‐lactate and aristolochic acid nephropathy where the glomerular structure is not affected. The nephropathy was induced using intravenous injections of aristolochic acid at a dosage of 10 mg/kg per day for 5 days and was characterized biochemically and histologically. The urinary excretions of proteins, N‐acetyl‐β‐d ‐glucosaminidase and serum creatinine were determined and connected to histological conventional findings. Urinary d ‐lactate was analyzed using column‐switching high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. The results showed a remarkable increase of urinary markers, including of urinary proteins and N‐acetyl‐β‐d ‐glucosaminidase, and the histological examination confirmed a diagnosis of acute tubule necrosis. The ratio of d ‐lactate to creatinine in the urine of aristolochic acid‐treated mice was approximately 36 times greater than that of the mice in the control group (p < 0.05). The ratios for the two groups of mice were 311.00 ± 71.70 and 8.60 ± 1.80 µmol/mmol creatinine, respectively. These data confirm in vivo that urinary d ‐lactate reflects renal injury conditions in aristolochic acid‐treated mice and may be a marker for the assessment of nephropathy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.