A comparison of the effects of intraperitoneal and subcutaneous routes of administration of
sodium dichromate on nephrotoxicity in rats was studied. Dichromate when injected subcutaneously (SC group) produced a higher degree of nephrotoxicity than when administered intraperitoneally (IP group). It caused severe progressive
proteinuria followed by
polyuria and glucosuria, reaching maximum levels at 3 days
after treatment in the SC group, whereas it produced mild
proteinuria without glucosuria in the IP group. The dose-dependent increases in blood
urea nitrogen (BUN) and
creatinine concentrations, shown in the SC group, were not observed in the IP group. However, between the two groups, there were no great differences in either the urinary excretion rate of
chromium or the electrophoretic patterns of urinary
protein in the day 1 urine specimens. Pretreatment of
phenobarbital (PB) had no remarkable effect on the dichromate-induced nephrotoxicity. In contrast, it potentiated dichromate-induced hepatotoxicity, the indices of which were the elevation in serum
alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity and hepatic
lipid peroxide formation. These results suggest that the dependence of dichromate-induced nephrotoxicity on the route of administration is related to the chemical forms of
chromium reaching the kidney, and the necrotizing property of dichromate results from its metabolic fate in vivo.