Soft drinks consumption and renal toxicity in normal and uninephrectomized rats

الملخص EN

Background / Aim : Living-donor kidney transplantation is increasingly performed in recent years.

Also the consumption of different kinds of drinks increased constantly especially Cola type, which may carry a health risks.

This research was designed to evaluate the possible toxic effects of Coca-Cola, as one of the most commonly used soft drinks, on the kidney of both normal and uninephrectomized rats as an animal model of living kidney donors. Materials and methods : Twenty adult male albino rats were used in this study divided into four groups : the first and second groups included normal rats and uninephrectomized rats.

They used tape water for drinking and considered control.

The third and fourth groups included also normal and uninephrectomized rats but they drank Coca-Cola instead of water for one month. Results : The results of the present study demonstrated that Coca-Cola drinking led to renal damage and sections obtained from the renal cortex of uninephrectomized rats revealed massive peritubular hemorrhage and focal degeneration in renal tubules.

E / M examination of the kidney of the same group confirmed the light microscopic changes and revealed marked degenerative changes in both proximal and distal convoluted tubules.

The cells of both tubules appeared with thick irregular basement membrane, shrunken nuclei, abnormal mitochondria, cytoplasmic vacuoles and dense bodies.

Few infiltrating cells were also noticed between the tubules.

On the other hand, normal rats received Coca-Cola showed minimal degenerative changes.

The glomeruli were congested and the renal tubules showed slight thickening of the basement membrane, few cytoplasmic vacuoles and dense bodies. Conclusion : The adverse effects of Coca-Cola observed in this study reinforce the putative role of soft drinks in producing renal damage.

On the basis of the results of this work, living kidney donors are advised to change their drinking behaviour, and excessive consumption of regular soft drinks especially Cola type should be generally discouraged.