Background/Objectives: Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury caused by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is related to hypoxia, amplification of the inflammatory response, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and apoptosis. This study aims to explore the protective effects of a radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) and a pulsed magnetic field (PMF) on acute kidney injury in rats. Materials and methods: Forty female Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into five groups (each containing eight rats): control, LPS, RF-EMF, PMF, and RF-EMF + PMF groups. Six hours after LPS application, blood and tissues were removed for histopathological, immunohistochemical, biochemical, and genetic analysis. Results: Histopathological findings, caspase-3, inducible nitric oxide synthase and tumor necrosis factor-alpha immunoexpressions, total oxidant status and oxidative stress index levels, and interleukin-6, hypoxia-inducible factor alpha, Bcl-2-associated X protein, and caspase 9 gene expression in kidney tissue and blood urine nitrogen and creatinine levels in blood were increased, whereas endothelial nitric oxide synthase and B-cell lymphoma 2 gene expression were decreased in the LPS groups. Both RF-EMF and PMF reversed all these findings and recovered renal tissues. Conclusions: Noninvasive, nontoxic, low-cost PMF and RF-EMF, both single and combined, have been demonstrated to have renoprotective anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiapoptotic effects.
Keywords: acute kidney injury; inflammation; pulsed magnetic field (PMF); radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF); sepsis.