Microscopic characterisation of structural components of the kidneys 1 hour after experimental rats' exposure to the scorpion Leiurus macroctenus venom

Background. The kidneys function in the human body as important organs for maintaining the constancy of the internal environment. With their participation, constant control is carried out over such parameters as the constancy of the circulating blood volume, electrolyte composition, osmotic pressure, ion concentration, acid-base balance, blood pressure, etc. Under the influence of pathogens of various genesis, these constants undergo pronounced changes due to disruption of the structural organisation of the kidneys. Objective. Study of microscopic changes in rat kidney tissue 1 hour after exposure to the venom of the scorpion Leiurus macroctenus. Methods. The study used 10 white male laboratory rats weighing 200 g (±10 g) grown in the vivarium of the Educational and Scientific Center "Institute of Biology and Medicine" of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. The venom of scorpions of the Buthidae family, genus Leiurus, species Leiurus macroctenus, was administered to rats once intramuscularly (0.5 ml of venom solution previously dissolved in saline; 28.8 μg/ml; LD50=0.08 mg/kg). Kidney samples from animals of all groups were taken for microscopic examination. Histological preparations of the heart were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Results and conclusion. It has been established that when the venom of the scorpion Leiurus macroctenus is administered, after 1 hour, toxic substances cause the development of significant hemodynamic disorders and the initiation of inflammatory processes in the organ in experimental rats, acute renal failure as a result of acute damage to the glomerular apparatus, disruption of the cytoskeleton of podocytes and the tubular apparatus of nephrons with manifestations of desquamation, hydropic, hyaline-droplet dystrophy of the tubular epithelium.