Full Review The renal microcirculation in sepsis

Despite identification of several cellular mechanisms being thought to underlie the development of septic acute kidney injury (AKI), the pathophysiology of the occurrence of AKI is still poorly understood. It is clear, however, that instead of a single mechanism being responsible for its aetiology, an or-chestra of cellular mechanisms failing is associated with AKI. The integrative physiological compartment where these me-chanisms come together and exert their integrative deleterious action is the renal microcirculation (MC). This is why it is op-portune to review the response of the renal MC to sepsis and discuss the determinants of its (dys)function and how it con-tributes to the pathogenesis of renal failure. A main determin-ant of adequate organ function is the adequate supply and utilization of oxygen at the microcirculatory and cellular leve