[Protective effect of propofol and resveratrol pretreatment against hepatocyte apoptosis in rats with hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury].
OBJECTIVE
To observe the effect of resveratrol and propofol, used either alone or in combination, on hepatocyte apoptosis in rats with hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (HIRI).


METHODS
A total of 144 male SD rats were randomized into 8 equal groups, including a sham-operated group and 7 HIRI (established using Pringle method) groups with pretreatments with normal saline, Tween80, propofol (10 or 20 mg·kg(-1)·h(-1)), or resveratrol (10 or 20 mg/kg), or both propofol and resveratrol 10 min before hepatic portal vein occlusion. At 1, 3 and 6 h after the reperfusion, 6 rats from each group were sacrificed for histopathological examination of the liver tissue, detection of hepatocyte apoptosis using TUNEL assay, and measurement of Bcl-2, Bax and caspase-3 protein expressions using immunohistochemistry.


RESULTS
Compared with normal saline and Tween80, propofol and resveratrol at different doses used alone or in combination all significantly alleviated the hepatic pathologies, lowered the apoptosis index (P<0.05), increased Bcl-2 expression (P<0.05), and reduced Bax and caspase-3 expressions in the liver tissues following HIRI (P<0.05). Compared with low doses of propofol and resveratrol used alone, their combination showed more obvious protective effects against hepatocyte apoptosis (P<0.05), but at higher doses, propofol and resveratrol either alone or in combination produced similar effects.


CONCLUSIONS
Propofol and resveratrol can suppress HIRI-induced hepatocyte apoptosis by up-regulating Bcl-2 and down-regulating Bax and caspase-3 expressions, and their combined use can reduce the effective doses of the drugs.
Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University College of Medicine, Xi'an, China. shenxinmzk@126.com
Xin
X
Shen
Ge
G
Zhao
Rui
R
Wang
Tingting
T
Liu
Lin
L
Liu
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D019194:Ischemic Preconditioning / Q000379:methods; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D015742:Propofol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000473:pathology*; D000077185:Resveratrol; D013267:Stilbenes / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000378:metabolism
C494828:Bax protein, rat; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D013267:Stilbenes; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; C505410:Casp3 protein, rat; D053148:Caspase 3; D000077185:Resveratrol; D015742:Propofol