Hearts from rats treated with interleukin-1 (IL-1) intraperitoneally developed a rapid (6 h after IL-1), transient increase in neutrophils, tissue hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) levels, and a subsequent (36 h after IL-1) increase in myocardial glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity and tolerance to ischemia-reperfusion. In the present investigation, we found that rats treated similarly with IL-1 had increased numbers of neutrophils in their kidneys, which were comparable to myocardial neutrophil increases, but did not develop increased renal tissue H2O2 or GSSG levels acutely (6 h after IL-1) or increased G6PD activity or resistance to ischemia-reperfusion injury later (36 h after IL-1). Our findings indicate that IL-1 treatment increased neutrophil accumulation in rat kidneys but did not increase oxidative stress, antioxidant enzyme activity, or resistance to ischemia-reperfusion injury. We conclude that organ-to-organ differences exist with respect to IL-1-induced tolerance.