title: Ultrastructural changes in the contralateral lung tissue following unilateral lung ischemia: an experimental study in rabbits.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the acute ultrastructural changes that may occur in the contralateral nonischemic lung tissue after unilateral ischemia of a lung in a rabbit model.
  
  
  METHODS
  The animals were divided into three main groups of eight; namely, a 2-h procedure group, a 4-h procedure group, and an 8-h procedure group. Each of these groups was further divided into two subgroups of four rabbits each; namely, a control group, given a sham operation without any ischemic insult, and an ischemia group, in which the main pulmonary arteries, the pulmonary veins, and the main bronchi of the left lungs were ligated after thoracotomy. Tissue samples were taken from the left and right lungs to examine the ultrastructural changes after 2, 4, and 8 h of ischemia. Each sample was given a semiquantitative histological injury score. Statistical analysis was done by the Mann-Whitney U-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Contralateral ultrastructural damage, evident by heterochromatin in the nuclei, mitochondrial degeneration, cisternal widening of the endoplasmic reticulum, increased lipid droplets, and lysosomes, was determined by electron microscopy after unilateral lung ischemia. The contralateral lung injury was significantly correlated with the duration of ischemia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Unilateral lung ischemia affected the bilateral lungs in a rabbit model. Therefore, in operations such as single-lung transplantation, pulmonectomy, or lobectomy, if the procedure is unnecessarily prolonged, the contralateral lung may be damaged, which could seriously affect the prognosis of the patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, School of Medicine, Harran University, Sanliurfa, Turkey.
authors.forename: Turan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanmaz
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cakmak
authors.forename: Ozgul
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tap
authors.forename: Ufuk
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Mete
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaya
authors.forename: Selcuk
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yucesan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D007511:Ischemia / Q000473:pathology*; D008168:Lung / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D011817:Rabbits; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors