Nephrotoxic nephritis in rabbits. The role of the sympathetic nervous system.

The sympathetic nervous system and catecholamines play a major role in fibrin deposition in organs in rabbits after endotoxin administration. Glomerular fibrin deposition is also a key factor in the pathogenesis of nephrotoxic nephritis in rabbits, but the role of the sympathetic nervous system in this type of fibrin deposition has not been defined. We investigated sympathetic nervous system involvement in nephrotoxic nephritis using a model of isolated chemical sympathectomy with 6-hydroxydopamine. Different quantities of pooled nephrotoxic serum were injected intravenously into control and sympathectomized rabbits to produce a known spectrum of pathology in normal rabbits. Animals were killed and their organs were analyzed to ascertain that sympathectomy had been accomplished. Biochemical, immunohistologic, and histopathologic evaluation of the animals, comparing controls and sympathectomized rabbits, revealed no differences in the degree of renal damage for a given quantity of nephrotoxic serum. We conclude that, in the rabbit model, the sympathetic nervous system plays no significant role in the pathogenesis of fibrin deposition and glomerular damage in nephrotoxic nephritis.