The Effect of Dexpanthenol Treatment on Renal Parenchymal Injury in Rats with Induced Renovascular Occlusion

Kidney damage due to ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a serious cause of morbidity and mortality. We induced an experimental kidney ischemia-reperfusion model in rats where intraperitoneal dexpanthenol were given and compared to controls in terms of oxidative stress, tubular damage, apoptosis, and its effect on renal inflammation. Twelve-week-old male albino Wistar rats were used for creating the experimental model and the study sample were divided into three groups (n=16); control group (intraperitoneal 2cc/kg saline was injected), IRI group and IRI+dexpanthenol group via intraperitoneal injection. Blood samples were obtained from rats 24 hours after perfusion and their left kidneys were removed. In order to determine the percentage of apoptotic cells, a total of 100 cells were counted in each region and the number of cells with caspase-3 positivity was recorded for each region. Mortality was lower, although not statistically significant in the IRI+dexpanthenol group (n=3; 18.8%) compared to the IRI group (n=6; 37.5%) (p=0.216). In addition, kidney parenchyma and tubular damages were significantly lower in the dexpanthenol group compared to the IRI group (p<0.05). Dexpanthenol significantly decreased oxidative stress and inflammation. Caspase-3 positive stained cell numbers were lower in the dexpanthenol group and also apoptosis rates were significantly lower (p<0.05). Dexpanthenol treatment in kidney ischemia-reperfusion models showed significant recovery in kidney tubular cell and parenchyma damages, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation. These results show us that dexpanthenol treatment can be a promising alternative in improving the prognosis of adults with kidney IRI.