Abstract: Aim To investigate whether vitamin E could suppress the fibrosis of remnant kidney in chronic renal failure (CRF)rats.Methods The 60 Wistar rats were divided into 3 groups. Rats in group A were experinced a sham operation serving as the negative control.rats in group B were given a 5/6 nephrectomy as the positive control.rats in group C were operated as those in group B and received treatment of vitamin E in their chow.The renal fibrosis of every group was estmated with the morphometry and biochemical methods 30, 60, 90, 120 days after operation respectively.Results In group B, accompanied with compensatory glome rular hypertrophy and glomerular capillary proliferation, there were obvious glomerular sclerosis, filtration membrane thickening, interstitial fibrosis, and renal hydroxy proline content increase.In group C, there were significantly less severe glomerular sclerosis, filtration membrane thickening, interstitial fibrosis, and renal hydroxy proline content than in group B.As a result, the glomerular hypertrophy and glome rular capillary proliferation were postponed.Conclusion Vitamin E can suppress fibrosis of remnant kidney in 5/6 nephrectomy induced CRF rats, and does not affect directly the compensatory glomerular hypertrophy and glome rular capillary proliferation.

Key words: kidney failure, chronic, rat, kidney, vitamin E, fibrosis