The role of cycloxygenase-2 in the rodent kidney following ischaemia/reperfusion injury in vivo.

The role of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in the pathophysiology of renal ischaemia/reperfusion injury is still not fully understood. In order to elucidate the role of COX-2 in ischaemia/reperfusion injury of the kidney, we have evaluated the effects of ischaemia/reperfusion on renal dysfunction and injury in (i) rats treated with either vehicle or the selective COX-2 inhibitor parecoxib, and (ii) wild-type mice or mice in which the gene for COX-2 has been deleted (COX-2 knock-out mice or COX-2(-/-)). Rats were subjected to bilateral renal ischaemia (45 min) and reperfusion (6 h), and received parecoxib (20 mg/kg, i.