Diet-associated kidney diseases of rats includes nephropath y in both sexes and nephrocalcinosi s in females. High protein content of diets appears to be the major cause for severe nephropathy and changing the source of protein to one such as soy protein, restricting caloric intake, or modifying the diet to decrease protein consumption could decrease the severity of nephropathy. The NTP-2000 diet with lower protein content than most diets decreases the severity of nephropathy and increases the survival of Fischer 344 rats without substantial changes in growth patterns and body weights. Nephrocalcinosis , characterized by mineralization of renal tubules at the corticomedullary junction, has been reported in young and adult female rats of most strains and stocks suggesting a major contribution of female sex hormones to the developmen t of this lesion. Calcium (Ca), phosphorou s (P), magnesium (Mg), and chloride (Cl) imbalances, especially a Ca:P ratio of less than 1.0 in diet, are considered to be associated with this lesion. Most commercial diets commonly used for toxicology studies have a Ca:P molar ratio of less than 1.0. Increasing the Ca:P molar ratio to more than 1.0 and closer to 1.3 in the AIN-93 puri ed diet and NTP-2000 nonpuri ed diet prevents the developmen t of this lesion. Genetics will predispose rats to some diseases and environmental factors will in uence the severity of these diseases. Diet is one of the most important environmenta l factors. Diets balanced for nutrients without excesses could markedly improve the health of rats used in chronic studies leading to substantial increases in survival and thereby accomplish the objective of chronic toxicity and carcinogenicity studies.Keywords. Nephropathy ; nephrocalcinosis ; protein; Ca:P ratio; cardiomyopathy ; control of nephropathy ; prevention of nephrocalcinosis ; control of cardiomyopathy.Diet-associated kidney diseases of most rat strains and stocks includes nephropathy in both sexes and nephrocalcinosis mainly in females.
NEPHROPATHYIn the literature, nephropathy in rats is listed under various conditions of the kidney. These include progressive renal disease, spontaneous nephrosis, chronic nephrosis, chronic progressive nephrosis, and progressive glomreulonephrosis. These pathological conditions re ect the nature and progression of the disease. Additional terms such as protein-overload nephropathy and dietary nephritis re ect the possible contribution of protein and diet to the development and progression of the disease. Some terms include nephritis and glomerulonephritis, indicating an in ammatory component to this disease; other terms including spontaneous glomerulosclerosis and glomerular hyalinosis (1, 2, 3) indicate the progression and nal outcome of this condition. Figure 1 shows the gross appearance of kidneys with moderate nephropathy, and Most strains and stocks of rats used for toxicology and carcinogenesis studies develop nephropathy. Although SpragueDawley and Wistar rats are highly susceptible and Fischer 344, Long-Eva...