Preventive role of estradiol on kidney injury induced by renal ischemia-reperfusion in male and female rats

Background: renal ischemia-reperfusion (rir) is the main cause of renal failure. the incidence of rir injury seems to be gender-related due to female sex hormone; estrogen. this study was designed to investigate the protective role of estrogen against rir injury in male and ovariectomized female rats. methods: thirty-nine wistar rats were used in this study as male and ovariectomized female rats in the sham-operated,rir,and estradiol-treated plus rir groups. the rir was induced by clamping the renal vessels for 45 min and then 24 h of reperfusion. all animals finally were sacrificed for the measurements. results: the serum levels of creatinine and blood urea nitrogen and kidney tissue damage score significantly increased in both male and female rir rats (p < 0.05). estradiol however significantly attenuated theses parameters (p < 0.05) toward normal levels in female (p < 0.05),but not in male rats. kidney weight increased in both genders and estradiol intensified it in the male rats (p < 0.05). uterus weight was increased by estradiol in female rats (p < 0.05) and testis weight did not alter in male rats. conclusions: estradiol demonstrated a protective role against rir injury in female rats; however,estradiol as an antioxidant could not protect the male kidney from rir injury. © 2015 iran-nejad a.