The fact that kidney is sensitive to ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury had encouraged us to compare the conventional histology and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) methods in renal structural changes following experimental warm I/R models, Our histological findings showed that longer warm I/R period caused more severe damage in structure of kidney. The thermal parameters (transition temperature, calorimetric enthalpy) of I/R injury reflected the histological results. These processes correlated with the ischemia time and the degree of injury was more serious after reperfusion periods compared to normal kidney structure, which provides basis for further investigation in different kidney stress models. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.