Alleviating the ischemia-reperfusion injury in aged liver by induction of heme oxygenase-1

Objective Enhancing the ability of anti-oxidation in aged rat liver by induction of heme oxygenase-1 . observing whether it can alleviate the ischemia-reperfusion injury and discussing the mechanism. Methods Aged rats served as recipients and adult SD rats as donors, and then were randomly divided into experimental group and control group. In the experimental group, Hemin was injected intraperitoneally 24 h before resection of donor liver, while in the control group, normal saline was given. The liver samples in the recipients were collected 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h after liver transplantation. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), the content of tocopherol (VE), ascorbic acid (VC), ALT, the apoptosis of the cells, and the apoptotic factor were measured after reperfusion. Results In the experimental group, the contents of SOD, VE, VC were higher than in the control group. The levels of ALT, the apoptotic cells and the expression of Caspase 3 were decreased, while the expression of BCL 2 increased in the experimental group as compared with those in the control group. Conclusions Induction of hem oxygenase-1 can alleviate the ischemia-reperfusion injury in aged liver, which might be contributed to the inhibition of the apoptosis.