Abstract:
Oxygen is very important to the existence of life. Oxygen deficiency, defined as
hypoxia, elicits adaptive responses in cells and tissues. Lower oxygen concentration can cause the
alteration of renal function, affects the maintenance of a balance of the body fluids, electrolytes, pH, and blood pressure homeostasis. Impaired fluid regulation could, in addition, contribute to the
precipitation of pulmonary edema and exacerbate hypoxemia which may accelerate the
progression of chronic kidney disease. In this context, the present study attempted to evaluate the
association of renal injury and oxidative stress at different atmospheric pressures (1829, 3657, and 5486 m). Limited fecal analysis of experimental animals was also done to evaluate the impact
of hypobaric hypoxia on the composition of dominant gastrointestinal microbiota. The study was
performed on 24 male Wister strain rats and divided into four groups (C, HA-I, HA-II, and HAIII), and exposure was carried out for seven days period. In hypoxic exposure rats, plasma urea,
creatinine, electrolytes and malonaldehyde level elevated and catalase and superoxide dismutase
level diminished significantly compared to the controls. Increase in blood uremia profile, toxicity
markers, and lipid peroxidation marker enzymes indicated that hypoxia causes renal failure. Histological structures of the kidney of group HA-II and HA-III animals showed severe
disorganization of glomerulus and dilation of renal tubules. These results indicate nephrotoxicity or acute renal failure can occur at hypobaric hypoxia and it also affected the gut microbial population. This alteration was observed significantly above 3000 m.
