Figure 2.

Types of inflammatory responses during AKI. An idealized schematic is shown of the phases of inflammation that occur within the healthy kidney after acute insults on the basis of current understanding from preclinical (mostly rodent) models. Initial cell damage and death trigger, over minutes to hours, a primary acute inflammatory response involving resident and infiltrating leukocytes. This phase, if appropriately regulated, evolves over several days into a phase of active repair and regeneration, which is dependent on regulatory and reprogrammed leukocyte subsets. As indicated in the lower panel, molecular and cellular details of the early and later phases of the inflammatory process provide specific therapeutic target opportunities, but strategies that involve blocking/inhibiting elements of the acute inflammatory response may, paradoxically, introduce a risk of disrupting the natural transition to the repair phase if improperly timed.