Oxygen radicals, lipid peroxidation, and neutrophil infiltration after small-intestinal ischemia and reperfusion

In this study the role of free radicals, lipid peroxidation, and neutrophil infiltration as mediators of ischemia and reperfusion-induced intestinal mucosal damage were investigated. We used a rat experimental model in which a ligated loop of the distal ileum was subjected to ischemia and reperfusion and the ensuing mucosal damage was assessed by means of lysosomal enzyme release and intestinal permeability measurements. We also determined the mucosal content of malondialdehyde, a lipid peroxidation product, and the mucosal activity of myeloperoxidase, a neutrophil granulocyte marker. Ischemia and revascularization alone caused increased mucosal permeability to sodium fluorescein, increased N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase release from the mucosa into the lumen, increased malondialdehyde content in the mucosa, and increased myeloperoxidase activity in the mucosa. Intravenous injection of enzymatic antioxidant, superoxide dismutase, together with xanthine oxidase inhibitor, allopurinol, prevented the malondialdehyde accumulation and caused attenuation of all the other effects of ischemia. Intravenous pretreatment of hydrocortisone sodium succinate (Solu-Cortef), a steroid and also a nonenzymatic antioxidant, prevented not only malondialdehyde accumulation but also neutrophil infiltration and mucosal damage. These data support a concept that neutrophil infiltration is an important element in ischemic mucosal damage. In addition, the blocking of this phenomenon may have clinical significance in attempts to modulate the potential damaging effects of the increased neutrophil infiltration associated with small-intestinal ischemia.