Biol. Pharm. Bull., 29(3),577-579, March 2006

Notes

Effects of Pre- and Post-ischemic Treatments with FK409, a Nitric Oxide Donor, on Ischemia/Reperfusion-Induced Renal Injury and Endothelin-1 Production in Rats


Atsushi NAKAJIMA, Kyoko UEDA, Masanori TAKAOKA, Hayato KURATA, Junji TAKAYAMA, Mamoru OHKITA, and Yasuo MATSUMURA*

Department of Pharmacology, Osaka University of Pharmaceutical Sciences; 4-20-1 Nasahara, Takatsuki, Osaka 569-1094, Japan. * To whom correspondence should be addressed. e-mail: matumrh@gly.oups.ac.jp

We have demonstrated that ischemic acute renal failure (ARF) is attenuated by pre-ischemic treatment with a spontaneous nitric oxide (NO) donor, (±)-(E)-4-ethyl-2-[(E)-hydroxyimino]-5-nitro-3-hexenamide (FK409). In the present study, we evaluated the effect of post-ischemic treatment with FK409 on ARF, compared with the pre-ischemic treatment effect. Ischemic ARF was induced by occlusion of the left renal artery and vein for 45 min followed by reperfusion, 2 weeks after contralateral nephrectomy. At 24 h after reperfusion, renal function in untreated ARF rats markedly decreased. In addition, increases in renal contents of endothelin-1 (ET-1), a deleterious mediator in the pathogenesis of ischemic ARF, were evident in untreated ARF rats at 24 h after reperfusion. Pre-ischemic treatment with FK409 (1 or 3 mg/kg, i.v.) at 5 min before ischemia attenuated ischemia/reperfusion-induced renal dysfunction and increased ET-1 contents after reperfusion. In contrast, post-ischemic treatment with FK409 (3 or 10 mg/kg, i.v.) at 6 h after reperfusion aggravated the renal injury, but did not affect the increased ET-1 content after reperfusion. These results suggest that pre-ischemic treatment with FK409 exerts renoprotective effects on ischemic ARF, probably through the suppression of renal ET-1 overproduction, whereas post-ischemic treatment with the NO donor worsens the ischemia/reperfusion-induced renal injury, through mechanisms unrelated to the ET-1 production after reperfusion.

Key words acute renal failure; ischemia; reperfusion; endothelin-1; nitric oxide