Effect of renal and non-renal ischemia/reperfusion on cell-mediated immunity in organs and plasma

Acute renal failure (ARF) is a common morbidity factor among patients in the intensive care unit, reaching an incidence from 3% to 30% depending on the definition of ARF and the population. Although the majority of the patients with ARF are treated with continuous renal replacement therapy, the mortality rate still remains above 50%. The causes of death are primarily extra-renal and include infection, shock, septicemia, and respiratory failure. We wanted to evaluate the cell-mediated inflammatory response of renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) and non-renal I/R, in blood and in distant organs. In our study, 80 mice were divided into four groups. The following surgeries were performed on the groups compared: bilateral renal I/R by clamping, unilateral renal ischemia, anesthesia only, and unilateral hind leg I/R. Half of the animals were killed after 2 h and the other half after 24 h. To assess the inflammatory response, we measured myeloperoxidase (MPO) in the organs, and CD 11b and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) II-positive cells in the blood. Non-renal I/R elicited the most elevated levels of MPO in extra-renal tissue such as the lungs. There was a trend toward higher MPO levels in the kidney following renal I/R. All kinds of I/R induced an upregulation of the adhesion molecule CD 11b and a downregulation of MHC II. Renal and non-renal I/R induced neutrophil infiltration in distant organs. Renal I/R does not induce a larger cell-mediated inflammatory response in blood and organs than non-renal I/R.