Calcium dobesilate ameliorates lung injury following lower limb ischemia/reperfusion

We examined the effects of calcium dobesilate on ameliorating the lung damage following ischemia-reperfusion injury in skeletal muscle of rats. A well known antioxidant, dimethyl sulfoxide, was also tested for comparison. The study included three groups: normal saline, dimethyl sulfoxide and calcium dobesilate. Plasma bicarbonate, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), as well as muscle and lung tissue TBARS levels were measured. Lung tissue samples were taken for histological examination. The dimethyl sulfoxide group showed significant amelioration of plasma (p = 0.004), skeletal muscle (p = 0.006) and lung TBARS (p = 0.004) levels, compared with controls. Calcium dobesilate-treated rats showed significantly low level muscle (p = 0.025) and lung TBARS (p = 0.004), compared with the control group. The extent of lung injury according to the histological findings was less in the dimethyl sulfoxide (p = 0.004) and calcium dobesilate (p = 0.003) groups. These observations indicated that calcium dobesilate acted effectively in the prevention of lung damage following ischemia-reperfusion injury in the rat skeletal muscle.