Hydralazine protects against renal ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats

In this study, we investigated whether hydralazine could reduce renal ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats. Renal I/R was induced by a 70-min occlusion of the bilateral renal arteries and a 24-h reperfusion, which was confirmed by the increased the mortality, the levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), blood creatinine (Cr), renal tissue NO and the visible histological damage of the kidneys. Apoptosis was evaluated by terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) staining. Furthermore, the serum levels of malonaldehyde (MDA), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were significantly elevated in renal I/R group, while the superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) levels were suppressed. However, intragastric pretreatment with hydralazine at doses of 7.5–30 mg/kg before renal I/R significantly limited the increase in mortality, BUN, Cr, oxidative stress, inflammatory factors, histological damage and apoptosis in the kidneys. In addition, hydralazine also increased p-AKT, Bcl-2 expression and decreased iNOS, Bax, cleaved caspase-3 expression in the kidneys. In conclusion, hydralazine reduced renal I/R injury probably via inhibiting NO production by iNOS/NO pathway, inhibiting oxidative stress, inflammatory response and apoptosis by a mitochondrial-dependent pathway.