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A(3) adenosine receptor (AR) activation and inhibition worsen and improve, respectively, renal function after ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats. We sought to further characterize the role of A(3) ARs in modulating renal function after either I/R or myoglobinuric renal injury. A(3) knockout mice had significantly lower plasma creatinines compared with C57 controls 24 h after I/R or myoglobinuric renal injury. C57 control mice pretreated with the A(3) AR antagonist [3-ethyl-5-benzyl-2-methyl-4-phenylethynyl-6-phenyl-1,4-(+/-)-dihydropyridine-3,5 dicarboxylate] or agonist [0.125 mg/kg N(6)-(3-iodobenzyl)-N-methyl-5'-carbamoyladenosine (IB-MECA)] demonstrated improved or worsened renal function, respectively, after I/R or myoglobinuric renal injury. Higher doses of IB-MECA were lethal in C57 mice subjected to renal ischemia. H(1) but not H(2) histamine receptor antagonist prevented death in mice pretreated with IB-MECA before renal ischemia. Improvement in renal function was associated with significantly improved renal histology. In conclusion, preischemic A(3) AR activation (0.125 mg/kg IB-MECA) exacerbated renal I/R injury in mice. Mice lacking A(3) ARs or blocking A(3) ARs in wild-type mice resulted in significant renal protection from ischemic or myoglobinuric renal failure.

Ceramides are a class of signaling molecules that can acutely accumulate in tissues as part of a "stress response." They are classically measured by the diacylglycerol kinase assay, which, in general, measures total ceramide rather than individual moieties within the diverse ceramide family. The present study was undertaken to 1) adapt current HPLC-mass spectrometry technology for measuring individual renal ceramides, and 2) use this technique to more fully characterize the nature of the renal ceramide "stress" reaction. Renal cortical tissues were obtained from CD-1 mice under control conditions and 2 or 18 h after renal injury (ischemia-reperfusion and glycerol-mediated myohemoglobinuria). C24, C22, and C16 ceramides were identified in normal renal cortex, constituting 70, 10, and 20% of the total ceramide pool, respectively. Within each of these families, heterogeneity was apparent because of differing degrees of unsaturation (0-3 double bonds) in the constituent fatty acid of ceramide. Renal injury dramatically changed ceramide profiles: 1) total ceramide increased by approximately 300%; 2) although all ceramides participated in this reaction, they did so to differing degrees; 3) this caused pronounced changes in ceramide distribution patterns; 4) injury induced a striking shift toward unsaturated (vs. saturated) fatty acids within the C22 and C24 (but not the C16) ceramide pools; and 5) the extent of these qualitative changes differed according to the etiology of the initiating renal damage. Thus we conclude that ceramide stress response involves major qualitative (and not simply quantitative) changes in ceramide expression that are partially disease dependent. These findings underscore the fact that simply measuring total renal ceramide content (e.g., by diacylglycerol kinase assay) substantially oversimplifies the nature and, hence, the potential implications of the ceramide stress reaction.