Objective To observe the effect of superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT) and endothelin (ET-1) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) on rat renal tissue under acute hypoxia. Methods 24 male Wistar rats, weight 180～220 g, were randomly divided into control group and acute hypobaric hypoxia group. Acute hypoxia group was divided into 2 groups hypoxia 1 and hypoxia 2, 8 rats for each group. After acute hypobaric hypoxia 10min and 24h, rats were sacrificed.The left removed kidneys were analyzed for biochemical indexes, and the right parts were observed by immunohistochemistry to evaluate the expression level of renal endothelin (ET-1) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). Results After acute hypobaric hypoxia, the activity of SOD of the rats kidney was greatly decreased (P< 0.01), CAT activity of hypoxia group 1 was significantly decreased (P< 0.01), GSH activity of hypoxia group 2 was significantly decreased (P< 0.05), but the MDA content had no obvious change (P> 0.05). The immunohistochemical staining showed that, the expression level of ET-1 and TNF-αwas increased remarkably, but it was reduced after 24 h. Conclusion The obviously decreased activity of SOD, CAT, GSH and significantly increased expression of ET-1 and TNF-α, may be involved in the pathogenesis of renal hypoxic injury.