Heat acclimation ameliorated heat stress-induced acute kidney injury and prevented changes in kidney macrophages and fibrosis

Heatstroke can cause acute kidney injury (AKI), which reportedly progresses to chronic kidney disease. Kidney macrophages may be involved in such injury. Although heat acclimation (HA) provides thermal resilience, its renoprotective effect and mechanism remain unclear. To investigate heat stress-induced kidney injuries in mice and the mitigating effect of HA on them, male C57/BL6J mice were exposed to heat stress (40°C, 1 h) with or without 5-day HA (38°C, 3 h/day) prior to heat stress. Heat stress damaged kidney proximal tubules with an elevation of urinary kidney injury molecule-1. Kidney fibrosis was observed on