Ischemic postconditioning provides protection against ischemia-reperfusion injury in intestines of rats.

In the present study, we investigated the protective role of ischemic postconditioning (IPOST) against intestine ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into sham-operation group (S), I/R group (I/R), ischemic preconditioning group (IPC), ischemic postconditioning group (IPOST). After reperfusion, small intestines were resected for histopathologic evaluations. To evaluate DNA fragmentation, resolving agarose gel electrophoresis was performed. To measure cellular apoptotic rates in intestine tissues, we performed TUNEL staining. To examine lipid peroxidation, production of superoxide radicals and tissue neutrophil infiltration, we tested the content of malondialdehyde and activities of superoxidase dismutase and myeloperoxidase in intestine tissues, respectively. Under light microscope, intestinal mucosal impairment in IPOST and IPC groups was found milder than that in I/R group (P < 0.05). The number of apoptosis cells in I/R group was significantly higher than that in IPOST and IPC groups (P < 0.05). The content of malondialdehyde and activity of myeloperoxidase were significantly reduced in IPOST group and IPC group compared with I/R group, but the activity of superoxidase dismutase in IPOST group and IPC group was enhanced compared with I/R group (P < 0.05). These results suggest that IPOST results in protection against intestine I/R injury, which may be related to reduced production of reactive oxygen species, enhanced activities of antioxidant systems and inhibited apoptosis of intestinal mucosal cells.