Xenon preconditioning protects against renal ischemic-reperfusion injury via HIF-1alpha activation.

The mortality rate from acute kidney injury after major cardiovascular operations can be as high as 60%, and no therapies have been proved to prevent acute kidney injury in this setting. Here, we show that preconditioning with the anesthetic gas xenon activates hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha (HIF-1alpha) and its downstream effectors erythropoietin and vascular endothelial growth factor in a time-dependent manner in the kidneys of adult mice. Xenon increased the efficiency of HIF-1alpha translation via modulation of the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway.