Angiotensin II receptor blocker partially ameliorated intrarenal hypoxia in chronic kidney disease patients: a pre-/post-study

Chronic intrarenal hypoxia has been regarded as a pathogenic factor of progressive renal damage. However, the lack of available human data has impeded the progress in this field. In this work, blood oxygen level‐dependent magnetic resonance imaging was used to determine intrarenal oxygen status pre‐ and post‐angiotensin receptor blockade (olmesartan) treatment in normal subjects, diabetic chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and non‐diabetic CKD patients. The mean R2*, which represents intrarenal oxygenation, was significantly lower in the control group than in the CKD group (12.42 ± 0.53 /s vs 18.89 ± 3.15 /s, P < 0.01), indicating the presence of intrarenal hypoxia in the CKD patients. The olmesartan treatment induced a 16.2 ± 7.7% decrement of the mean R2* in CKD patients, suggesting that this drug had an intrarenal hypoxia ameliorating effect.