Protective effects of celecoxib on ischemia reperfusion–induced acute kidney injury: comparing between male and female rats

OBJECTIVE(S): There is increasing evidence for the importance of gender in different diseases; however, the role of gender in response to treatments is still unknown. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of gender on the protective effects of celecoxib in ischemia reperfusion (IR)-induced acute kidney injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this experimental study, rats were randomly divided into 6 groups (n=6): IR, sham and celecoxib groups of males and females. In IR groups, after orally receiving saline for 5 days, renal pedicles were clamped for 55 min and then kidneys were reperfused for 24 hr. In the sham groups, clamping of renal pedicles was not performed. In the celecoxib groups, 30 mg/kg celecoxib was given orally for 5 days before induction of ischemia. Plasma was collected to determine creatinine (Cr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN). Kidney tissue samples were also stored for examining the histopathology and measuring malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities. RESULTS: IR caused significant increases in plasma Cr (P<0.05), BUN (P<0.05) and renal histopathological damages in both genders. Also, induction of IR resulted in significant increase of MDA levels (P<0.05) and decrease of SOD activities (P<0.05) in the kidney in both genders. Celecoxib administration prevented the IR-induced functional, histopathological and oxidative changes in both genders by similar degrees. CONCLUSION: This study suggested that in similar pathological conditions, celecoxib improves renal function and histopathological damages and attenuates oxidative stress in both genders by the same degrees. These protective effects of celecoxib on IR-induced kidney injury are gender-independent.