Effect of recombinant human erythropoietin on lung injury induced by hepatic ischemia-reperfusion in rats / 中华麻醉学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the effect of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) on lung injury induced by hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) in rats.Methods Sixty healthy male SpragueDawley rats, aged 6-8 weeks, weighing 220-280 g, were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=20 each) using a random number table sham operation group (group S) , hepatic I/R group (group I/R), and rHuEPO group (group E).I/R and E groups underwent I/R of 70 percent of the liver.The rHuEPO 4 000 U/kg was injected intraperitoneally at 24 h before I/R in group E, while the equal volume of normal saline was given in S and I/R groups.The rats were sacrificed at 3 h of reperfusion, and lungs were removed and cut into sections which were stained with haematoxylin and eosin and examined under light microscope.Wet to dry lung weight ratio (W/D ratio) was calculated.The expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in lung tissues was determined by immunohistochemistry.The content of malondialdehyde (MDA), and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in lung tissues were detected.Results Compared with group S, the W/D ratio, MDA content, and MPO activity were significantly increased, the SOD activity was decreased, the expression of HO-1 and iNOS was up-regulated (P＜0.05) , and the pathological changes of lung tissues were obvious in E and I/R groups.Compared with group I/R, the W/D ratio, MDA content, and MPO activity were significantly decreased, the SOD activity was increased, the expression of HO-1 was up-regulated, the expression of iNOS was down-regulated (P＜0.05) , and the pathological changes of lung tissues were reduced in group E.Conclusion The rHuEPO can alleviate hepatic I/R-induced lung injury in rats, and the mechanism may be related to up-regulated expression of HO-1 and down-regulated expression of iNOS.