Oral beta-glucan protects kidney against ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats

Background: Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is one of the leading causes of acute renal failure. beta-(1 -> 3)-Glucans are glucose polymers with a variety of stimulatory effects on the immune system. We designed this study to determine the possible protective effect of the orally administered soluble beta-glucan against I/R injury. Methods: 30 rats were randomly divided into 5 experimental groups (control, sham operated, beta-glucan, I/R and I/R+beta-glucan groups, n = 6 each). beta-Glucan was administered orally to 6 rats of the beta-glucan and I/R+beta-glucan groups. The rats were subjected to bilateral renal ischemia followed by reperfusion in the I/R and I/R+beta-glucan groups. All of the rats were then sacrificed and kidney function tests, serum and tissue oxidants and antioxidants were evaluated. Results: The serum urea and cystatin C levels were significantly higher in the I/R group compared to the I/R+beta-glucan group (p < 0.01). The serum and tissue antioxidant markers (SOD, GSH- Px) were significantly lower in the I/ R group than the I/R+beta-glucan group (p < 0.01). The serum oxidant markers (NO and PC) were significantly higher in the I/R group than the I/R+beta-glucan group (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Based on the present data, we conclude that increased antioxidants and decreased oxidants modulated by beta-glucan attenuated the renal I/R injury.