Morphological changes in the renal medulla and cortex in the four groups
| Grade of Medullary Changes | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Mean ± S.E.M. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control (n = 5) | 4 | 1 | 0.2 ± 0.2 | |||
| FUR (n = 5) | 5 | 0.0 ± 0.0 | ||||
| BEA (n = 5) | 1 | 4 | 2.8 ± 0.2 | |||
| BEA + FUR (n = 4) | 1 | 3 | 3.3 ± 0.8 | |||
| Grade of cortical changes | ||||||
| Control (n = 5) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1.0 ± 0.3 | ||
| FUR (n = 5) | 1 | 4 | 0.8 ± 0.2 | |||
| BEA (n = 5) | 2 | 3 | 2.6 ± 0.2 | |||
| BEA + FUR (n = 4) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2.3 ± 0.5 |
Medullary changes: grade 0: no changes. Grade 1: narrowing of the tip of the papilla with slight disappearance of RIC. Grade 2: narrowing of the inner half of the papilla with disappearance of the majority of RIC. Grade 3: disappearance of the entire papilla with only a few RIC left in the nonpapillary part of the inner medullary zone. Grade 4: missing papilla and narrowing of the nonpapillary part of the inner medulla with no discernible RIC.Cortical changes: grade 0: no changes. Grade 1: tubular dilatation with minimal loss of brush border. Grade 2: disperse minor changes with atrophy and dilatation of tubules. Grade 3: multifocal changes with moderately severe dilatation and atrophy. Grade 4: widespread changes with many larger foci and continuous areas with atrophic and severely dilated tubules.