Ischemic postconditioning attenuated lung injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion in the hind limbs of rats.

Objective To study the effect of ischemic postconditioning(I-postC)on the lung injury following ischemia-reperfusion(I/R)in the hind limbs of rats.Methods The rat model of hind limbs I/R injury was established by subrenal abdominal aorta cross-clamping for 4 hours.48 rats were divided into 3 groups:I/R group,IPC and I-postC group.Each group received 4 hours of ischemia and then 12 hours or 24 hours of reperfusion respectively.The tissue morphology,wet-to-dry weight(W/D)ratio,malondialdehyde(MDA)and myeloperoxidase(MPO)in lung were compared.The mRNA expression of ICAM-1 in lung was also studied by RT-PCR or in situ hybridization.The protein product was detected by Western blot.Results In IPC and I-postC group,all parameters decreased significantly compared with I/R ischemia group(P 0.01).There was no significantly difference between the IPC and I-postC group(P 0.05).Conclusion I-postC can attenuate lung injury following skeletal muscle I/R in the hind limbs of rats,which maybe accomplished by inhibition of adhesion and infiltration of polymorphonuclear neutrophil(PMN).