Effect of shock wave number on renal oxidative stress and inflammation

What’s known on the subject? and What does the study add? Oxidative stress and inflammation are tissue‐ and cell‐level components of shock wave lithotripsy (SWL)‐induced acute renal injury, which we recently showed to be localized principally to the medulla within the focal zone of the lithotripter. This study reports that the magnitude of the oxidative stress and inflammation observed in the medulla after SWL is dependent on the number of shock waves delivered to the kidney, indicating that this is a sensitive measure of renal injury caused by shock waves. OBJECTIVE To determine if the magnitude of the acute injury response to shock‐wave lithotripsy (SWL) depends on the number of SWs delivered to the kidney, as SWL causes acute renal oxidative stress and inflammation which are most severe in the portion of the kidney within the focal zone of the lithotripter. MATERIALS AND METHODS Pigs (7–8 weeks old) received 500, 1000 or 2000 SWs at 24 kV from a lithotripter to the lower pole calyx of one kidney. At 4 h after treatment the kidneys were removed, and samples of cortex and medulla were frozen for analysis of the cytokine, interleukin‐6, and for the stress response protein, heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1). Urine samples taken before and after treatment were analysed for the inflammatory cytokine, tumour necrosis factor‐α. For comparison, we included previously published cytokine data from pigs exposed to sham treatment. RESULTS Treatment with either 1000 or 2000 SWs caused a significant induction of HO‐1 in the renal medulla within the focal zone of the lithotripter (F2, 1000 SWs, P < 0.05; 2000 SWs, P < 0.001). Interleukin‐6 was also significantly elevated in the renal medulla of the pigs that received either 1000 or 2000 SWs (P < 0.05 and <0.001, respectively). Linear dose–response modelling showed a significant correlation between the HO‐1 and interleukin‐6 responses with SW dose (P < 0.001). Urinary excretion of tumour necrosis factor‐α from the lithotripsy‐treated kidney increased only for pigs that received 2000 SWs (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION The magnitude of renal oxidative stress and inflammatory response in the medulla increased with the number of SWs. However, it is not known if the HO‐1 response is beneficial or deleterious; determining that will inform us whether SWL‐induced renal injury can be assessed by quantifying markers of oxidative stress and inflammation.