Effects of allopurinol on ischemia and reperfusion in rabbit livers

In this work, we evaluated the effects of allopurinol (ALO), an inhibitor of xanthine oxidase (XO), on hepatic lesions caused by ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) in the rabbit liver. Rabbits were pretreated with ALO (10 mg/kg IV) or saline solution 0.9% before the hepatic I/R procedure. The effects of ALO on hepatic injury were evaluated before and after I/R. A standard, warm hepatic I/R procedure caused profound acute liver injury, as indicated by elevated serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and lactic dehydrogenase levels, as well as a high apoptotic cell count. All of these changes were reversed by the administration of ALO before the hepatic I/R procedure. In conclusion, ALO exerted protective effects on hepatic I/R lesions. This protective effect of ALO was probably associated with blocking the generation of superoxide anions during the hepatic I/R procedure by inhibiting XO activity.