Preconditioning with atorvastatin against renal ischemia-reperfusion injury in nondiabetic versus diabetic rats.

Acute renal failure complicates renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) owing to reactive oxygen species production. Atorvastatin (ATO) has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. The current study investigated whether ATO alleviated damage induced by renal I/R injury in nondiabetic versus diabetic rat models. Thirty-six rats were equally divided into 6 groups: group A1 (nondiabetic sham), group A2 (nondiabetic I/R), group A3 (nondiabetic ATO + I/R), group B1 (diabetic sham), group B2 (diabetic I/R), and group B3 (diabetic ATO + I/R). All groups experienced 45 min of bilateral renal ischemia followed by 24 h of reperfusion. Groups A3 and B3 were treated with single intraperitoneal doses of ATO (10 mg/kg) 30 min before ischemia. Histological analysis of kidney tissues, kidney function tests, and analyses of caspase-3 and CD44 expression and oxidative stress markers were performed to assess tubular injury. Histological analysis revealed marked tubular damage in groups A2 and B2 but improvement in groups A3 and B3. Improvements were also found in groups A3 and B3 for caspase-3 and CD44 expression, kidney function tests, and oxidative stress markers. Our results suggest ATO may ameliorate renal I/R injury differently between nondiabetic and diabetic rats.