Thiamphenicol and lupus nephritis. The effects of long-term therapy on kidney function and pathology: a pilot study.

NZB x OUW F1 hybrid mice were treated with thiamphenicol at 25, 50 and 250 mg/kg/day from the time of their first positive antinuclear antibody test until their death. Untreated mice fed the same diet served as controls with body weight, mortality and renal disease patterns conforming to published reports of the biology of the BW mice. Regular testing of urine and bloodm and detailed postmortem examinations showed (a) that with increasing drug dose levels heavy proteinuria was almost eliminated and blood urea concentrations significantly lowered; (b) that in treated and untreated mice moderate to severe anaemia developed, apparently unrelated to the degree of uraemia; (c) that changes in renal function did not correlate with antinuclear antibody activity, nor did the drop in packed cell volume correlate with fixed or free circulating antierythrocyte autoantibody positivity; (d) that histological analysis of renal changes showed that at the highest dose level glomerular lesions were minimal. Thus the prolonged treatment with thiamphenicol reduced the severity of the spontaneous renal disease and resulted in a significant extension of lifespan.