Remote Ischemic Preconditioning Of Spleen Decreases Hepatic Ischemia Reperfusion Injury In Rats

Background and ObjectivesHepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (HIRI) is a major problem, which livertissue will cause series of more severe injuries when liver get supply blood again afterischemia. It is very common in the liver surgery and liver transplant process. Remoteischemic preconditioning (RIPC) as a new concept, entails brief periods of ischemiabefore one organ’s reperfusion. RIPC could protect remote organs, which are fromischemia without dI/Rect stress or trauma to blood vessels. The protection of RIPCwas also reported in HIRI in some studies. However, none of studies has beenreported to study the effect and mechanism of spleen ischemic preconditioning onHIRI. In this study, we fI/Rst made hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury model andspleen preconditioning model in rats, and then investigated the effect and mechanismof the ischemic preconditioning of spleen on h HIRI in rats.Materials and MethodIn this study,36SD rats were randomly divided into three groups:(1) Shamgroup (Sham group), ischemia reperfusion group (I/R group, inflow occlusion for30min), and remote ischemic preconditioning group（RIPC group: induced with15minischemia of spleen before hepatic ischemia). Serum aminotransferases [alanineaminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST)] and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, P-selectin in liver were measured after reperfusion for2h.ResultsCompared with the Sham group (54.05±16.05)u/L，the level of ALT wassignificantly increased in the I/R (466.75±89.45)u/L and RIPC (231.87±50.80) U/Lgroups (P<0.05). Compared with the Sham group (76.50±12.38)U/L, the level of ASTwas significantly increased in the I/R (782.25±87.71)U/L and RIPC(326.75±19.12)U/L groups (P<0.05); and the I/R group was significantly higher thanthe RIPC group in the all above variables (P<0.05).(2) The pathological injury scoresof RIPC group (0.93±0.13) and I/R group (2.10±0.15) were higher than the Shamgroup (0.15±0.12)(P<0.05).(3) TNF-α (140.50±12.11)and p-selectin expression(141.91±2.36) of the I/R group were significantly higher than that of RIPC group(122.08±4.84;132.14±3.60)．ConclusionsThe spleen ischemic preconditioning could protect the liver and decrease thereperfusion injury during hepatic ischemia in rats, which may be caused by thedecrease of the activity of neutrophils and pro-inflammatory. The method of spleenischemic preconditioning was cheaper and safer.