Lysosomal changes in renal proximal tubular epithelial cells of male sprague dawley rats following decalin exposure

Abstract

A histochemical stain for acid phosphatase served as a marker for lysosomal alterations in renal tubular cells associated with male rat hyaline droplet nephropathy. Morphometric analysis and quantitative histochemistry were used to compare the size and acid phosphatase stain reaction of lysosomes in tubular epithelial cells of treated and control animals. Decalin exposure increased the size and significantly (p< 0.01) reduced the acid phosphatase stain intensity of individual lysosomes. However, there was no significant different (p> 0.05) between the acid phosphatase stain intensity of treated and control animals when analyzed on a whole cell basis. The increase in size of the lysosomes without a proportional increase in whole cell acid phosphatase stain intensity indicates a dilution or a failure to accommodate in the acid phosphatase concentration (stain intensity/μm2) per lysosome. All acid phosphatase stain reaction product was contained within intact lysosomes, mitigating against the hypothesis of lysosomal enzyme leakage as the cause of cell death in decalin-induced alpha 2U globulin nephropathy.