Hyperbaric oxygen therapy protects the liver from apoptosis caused by ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats.
OBJECTIVE
: The present paper aimed to investigate the role of hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBO) and the apoptosis in rat liver ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI).


METHODS
: Thirty-seven male Wistar rats were subjected to 30 minutes of hepatic ischemia and 30 minutes of reperfusion and randomly distributed into six groups: G-I/R (n = 8), control without HBO; G-HBO/I (n = 8), HBO only during the ischemia period; G-HBO/R (n = 8), HBO only during the reperfusion period; G-HBO-I/R (n = 8), HBO during both the ischemia and reperfusion periods; G-Sh (n = 3), HBO without ischemia or reperfusion as sham group; G-C (n = 2) for control of current apoptosis expression on the normal liver tissue. HBO was carried out using a transparent, cylindrical acrylic chamber with a pressure of 2.0 ATA. Hepatic samples were stained for caspase-3 cleavage.


RESULTS
: Apoptotic cells were identified in all groups. In the hepatic specimens of animals HBO-treated during ischemia (GHBO-I), there was a significant decrease (P < 0.001) in the number of cells undergoing apoptosis (1.62 +/- 0.91). The apoptotic index showed no significant difference in the animals HBO-treated during ischemia/reperfusion (5.75 +/- 1.28) compared with the G-I/R (3.5 +/- 0.75), which had no HBO treatment. The apoptosis index (11.25 +/- 1.90) was significantly higher (P < 0.01) in HBO-treated animals during the reperfusion period when compared with any of the other groups.


CONCLUSIONS
: A favorable effect was obtained when hyperbaric oxygen was administered early during ischemia. The hyperbaric oxygen in later periods of reperfusion was associated with a more severe apoptosis index. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Microsurgery 2009.
Chaves
José C
JC
Medical School, Federal University of Grande Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
Fagundes
Djalma J
DJ
Simões
Manuel De J
Mde J
Bertoletto
Paulo R
PR
Oshima
Celina T F
CT
Taha
Murched O
MO
Simões
Ricardo S
RS
Fagundes
Anna L N
AL
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006931:Hyperbaric Oxygenation / Q000379:methods; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008099:Liver / Q000201:enzymology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013997:Time Factors
D053148:Caspase 3