Renal artery perfusion modifies ischemia/reperfusion injury

Renal ischemic and reperfusion injury is a significant complication of major aortic and renovascular surgery. The delivery of a preservative agent just prior to reperfusion of an ischemic kidney may decrease the reperfusion injury. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of renal artery perfusates delivered at the termination of an ischemic period. Five groups of rats were evaluated. All rats underwent left nephrectomy. The right kidney was made ischemic for 45 min by occlusion of the renal artery and vein. Ischemic control animals had no renal artery perfusion. Nonischemic control animals had no renal vessel occlusion or perfusion. The other three groups were perfused during the final 4 min of ischemia with one of the following: normal saline (NS), phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), or anti-ICAM-1-antibody (mAb). The blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine (Cr), and renal histopathologic injury of each group were compared. The ischemic control group had significantly better renal function than the group perfused with NS or mAb at 72 hr. There was no significant difference between the ischemic control and PBS groups in renal function or morphologic injury. It is concluded that none of the perfusates in the study had protected the kidney from ischemic and reperfusion injury. NS delivered in this manner was injurious to the kidney.