We investigated the effects of a high-fat (HF) diet and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-a activation on the intrarenal lipotoxicity associated with the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and oxidative stress using spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats. Male SHR and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats at 8 weeks of age were fed either a normal-fat diet or an HF diet without or with fenofibrate treatment for 12 weeks. Severe intrarenal lipid accumulation was noted in the SHR rats fed an HF diet than in WYK rats fed an HF diet (Po0.05). This lipid accumulation was associated with a 70% decrease in renal PPARa expression in SHR rats, whereas an HF diet increased the expression of PPARa in WKY rats by threefold. An HF diet also activated intrarenal, not systemic, RAS and induced oxidative stress associated with reduced nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. By contrast, fenofibrate attenuated weight gain, fat mass and insulin resistance. Fenofibrate recovered HF diet-induced decreases in intrarenal PPARa expression and fat accumulation, and abolished intrarenal RAS activation and oxidative stress in SHR-HF animals (Po0.01). These activities conferred protection against increased blood pressure (BP), glomerulosclerosis and renal inflammation. Keywords: obesity; oxidative stress; PPARa; renal inflammation; renin-angiotensin system INTRODUCTION Currently, the prevalence of hypertension and chronic renal disease continues to increase among obese individuals. 1,2 It has been suggested that the development and progression of hypertension in an obese patient induces the activation of the systemic renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and the sympathetic nervous system. 3,4 In addition, it increases asymmetric dimethylarginine concentrations and vascular tone created by the reduced bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO) owing to increased oxidative stress. 5,6 Recent reports have demonstrated that it is not the systemic but the local (tissue specific) RAS activation that causes hypertension and renal damage 7-9 associated with local oxidative stress. [10][11][12] It has been shown that oxidative stress in kidneys of diabetic animals, measured by the electron spin resonance imaging technique, 10 high-performance liquid chromatography 13 and immunohistochemistry, 14 can be ameliorated by RAS inhibition.