Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury induces both functional and morphological changes in the kidney. Necrosis, predominantly of the proximal tubule (PT), is the hallmark of this model of renal injury, whereas cells of the distal nephron survive, apparently intact. We examined whether differences in cellular outcome of the various regions of the nephron may be due to segmental variation in the activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) in response to I/R injury. Whereas c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is activated in both the cortex and inner stripe of the outer medulla, the extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) pathway is activated only in the inner stripe in which thick ascending limb (TAL) cells predominate. These studies are consistent with the notion that ERK activation is essential for survival. To test this hypothesis directly, we studied an in vitro system in which manipulation of these pathways and their effects on cellular survival could be examined. Oxidant injury was induced in mouse PT and TAL cells in culture by the catabolism of hypoxanthine by xanthine oxidase. PT cells were found to be more sensitive than TAL cells to oxidative stress as assessed by cell counting, light microscopy, propidium iodide uptake, and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis. Immunoprecipitation/kinase analysis revealed that JNK activation occurred in both cell types, whereas ERK activation occurred only in TAL cells. We then examined the effect of PD-098059, a MAP kinase kinase (MEK)-1 inhibitor of the ERK pathway, on PT and TAL survival. In TAL cells, ERK inhibition reduced cell survival nearly fourfold (P < 0.001) after oxidant exposure. In PT cells, activation of the ERK pathway by insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) increased survival by threefold (P < 0.001), and this IGF-I-enhanced cell survival was inhibited by PD-098059. These results indicate that cell survival in the kidney after ischemia may be dependent on ERK activation, suggesting that this pathway may be a target for therapeutic treatment in I/R injury.