The Renal Protective Effects of Remote Ischemic Preconditioning in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is characterized by progressive and irreversible loss of nephrons. Currently, due to the increasing prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and the impact of population aging, the incidence of CKD is showing an upward trend. The treatment of CKD is mostly aimed at delaying the progression of renal function, but the therapeutic effect is limited, causing a continuous economic burden for CKD patients. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new treatment methods to prevent or reverse the progression of the disease. Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is a process that involves repeatedly applying brief ischemic stimuli to a certain organ or tissue, which stimulates the body's endogenous anti-ischemic injury ability, enabling other organs or tissues besides the stimulated one to adapt to ischemia and improve their tolerance to ischemic injury, thereby reducing the damage caused by ischemia to relevant organs or tissues. Current studies have confirmed that RIC can protect remote organs such as the heart, brain, and kidneys through multiple pathways, including humoral mechanisms, neural conduction regulation mechanisms, and immune inflammatory regulation mechanisms. However, current research in the field of kidney diseases has been mostly limited to acute kidney injury caused by contrast agents, surgery, etc., and there are no reports on the intervention and treatment of CKD patients using RIC. Therefore, exploring whether RIC can delay the progression of renal function in CKD patients is of great significance.