Mild hypothermia ameliorates lung ischemia reperfusion injury in an ex vivo rat lung model.
BACKGROUND
Ischemia reperfusion (I-R) injury of the lung frequently occurs after cardiopulmonary bypass, pulmonary thromboendarterectomy, lung transplantation, and major pulmonary resection with vascular reconstruction. Mild hypothermia ameliorates ischemia reperfusion injury of the brain and the liver. However, the effect of mild hypothermia on I-R injury of the lung has not been investigated.


METHODS
The lungs of Lewis rats underwent 80 min of ischemia followed by 60 min of reperfusion in an ex vivo perfusion model. The ambient temperature was maintained at either normothermia (38 degrees C, n=6) or mild hypothermia (35 degrees C, n=6) during the ischemia and reperfusion.


RESULTS
Pulmonary shunt fraction, peak inspiratory pressure, mean pulmonary arterial pressure during reperfusion, and the wet/dry weight ratio of the lung tissue at the end of reperfusion in the mild hypothermia group were significantly (p<0.05) lower than those in the normothermia group. Total adenine nucleotide, adenosine triphosphate, adenosine diphosphate, and adenosine monophosphate after reperfusion in the mild hypothermia group were significantly (p<0.05) higher than those in the normothermia group.


CONCLUSIONS
Mild hypothermia attenuates I-R injury of the lung with maintained levels of intrapulmonary high-energy phosphate compounds after reperfusion, suggesting its beneficial effect on warm lung I-R in clinical settings.
Shoji
T
T
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Omasa
M
M
Nakamura
T
T
Yoshimura
T
T
Yoshida
H
H
Ikeyama
K
K
Fukuse
T
T
Wada
H
H
D000227:Adenine Nucleotides / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects; D007036:Hypothermia, Induced; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008168:Lung / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology; D055370:Lung Injury; D008297:Male; D011652:Pulmonary Circulation; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*
D000227:Adenine Nucleotides