The Effects of Glucocorticoid and alpha-Lipoic Acid on Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

ABSTRACT

During revascularization after ischemia, oxygen free radicals and cytotoxic enzymes are released and they have a role in pathogenesis of ischemia-reperfusion injury. Glucocorticoid decreases oxygen free radical formation by inhibition of arachidonic acid metabolism, and alpha-lipoic acid scavenges nitric oxide(NO) with inhibition of hydroxy radical formation. Author investigated the role of glucocorticoid and alpha-lipoic acid to decrease ischemia reperfusion injury in 24 anesthetized rats (normal saline-injected, n= 8; dexamethasone-injected, n=8; alpha-lipoic acid-injected, n= 8), subjecting a soleus muscle to 4 hours of tourniquet ischemia followed by 2 hours of reperfusion, and evaluated the concentration of NO, tissue edema, and neutrophil count of rat skeletal muscle as a indicator of tissue damage by ischemia- reperfusion injury. We obtained the results that glucocorticoid and alpha-lipoic acid treatment decreased the increase of NO concentration, tissue edema, and neutrophil count significantly. These results support that pretreatment with glucocorticoid or alpha-lipoic acid has a beneficial effect on the preventive management of ischemia-reperfusion injury.