Introdução - a isquemia renal é causa de graves lesões nesse órgão, estando presente em diferentes situações como em cirurgias renais, vasculares e no transplante renal. Assim, a procura de substâncias protetoras da função renal tem amplo interesse clínico. Neste estudo o objetivo foi o de analisar o efeito da lovastatina na isquemia renal normotérmica seguida da reperfusão.

Acute kidney ischemia is a frequent clinical problem in vascular and urologic surgery, as in cadaver donor transplantation. In the search for an improvement in renal function, in this study we assessed the effect of lovastatin on kidney ischemia-reperfusion. Adult Wistar rats were submitted to 60 minutes of unilateral kidney ischemia followed by contralateral nephrectomy, with 7 days of follow-up. The experimental group (n=14) received 15 mg/Kg/day of lovastatin and the control group (n=17) had no protection against kidney ischemia. Serum urea and cretinine, death rate and mitochondrial function were analysed into each group. Death rate was 29.4% in group A and 0.7% in group B. Serum levels of urea and creatinine raised in both group, but in group B these values were statistically lower. In 83.4% of the group A animals mitochondrial function showed no ATP production, and in group B this condition was seen in only 38.4%. These results suggest that lovastatin has a protective effect on renal function when administered before kidney ischemia. However, at this moment it is impossible to confirm that this action is due to a protective effect on mitochondrial function.