Brief Report Erythropoietin ameliorates renal dysfunction during endotoxaemia

Background. Sepsis has a high mortality (50–80%) when associated with acute renal failure (ARF). Oxidant injury and proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines have been shown to increase with endo-toxaemia-related ARF. Since erythropoietin (EPO) has been demonstrated to possess anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, EPO may have thera-peutic efficacy for treating ARF associated with endotoxaemia. Methods. Wild-type mice were given 2.5mg/kg of intraperitoneal (i.p.) endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and studied 16 h later. Thirty minutes prior to LPS, the mice were given either EPO or vehicle. Results. During endotoxaemia, EPO was found to significantly attenuate the renal dysfunction, as asses-sed by glomerular filtration rate (48.1 12.4 ml/min vs 136.7 30.2, P< 0.05). Renal blood flow and mean arterial pressure were not significantly different between the two groups. The renal dysfunction during endotoxaemia was associated with a decrease in renal superoxide dismutase (SOD). The EPO-related renal protection was associated with reversal of the effects of endotoxin on renal SOD. Conclusion. This is the first demonstration of a renal protective effect of EPO on endotoxin-related renal dysfunction