Does granulocyte depletion protect against ischaemic muscle necrosis?

Male Wistar rats were submitted to complete hindlimb ischaemia for 4.5 h. Six animals were injected with antineutrophilic serum (ANS) pre- and post-operatively, and eight animals received normal sheep serum (NSS). The rats were killed 72 h after the insult, and the areas of necrosis in the anterior tibial muscles were measured morphometrically on histological slides. In the NSS group there was a considerable postoperative increase in polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs) in peripheral blood, while treatment with ANS resulted in total depletion of PMNLs during ischaemia and early reperfusion. There was 31% necrosis in the NSS group and 28% necrosis in the ANS group. This difference was not significant (p = 0.7). It is concluded that depletion of PMNLs had no effect on the infarct size in the anterior tibial muscle after 4.5 h of complete hindlimb ischaemia and 72 h of reperfusion.