[Effect of antioxidative therapy on regeneration of ischemic liver]

Ischemia is a common situation, not always desirable, in liver surgery. In any case, it implies cellular damage that would be worth avoiding. In the present study, different antioxidant drugs (superoxide-dismutase, allopurinol and folinic acid) are administered prior to liver reperfusion in order to reduce ischemic damage. Liver regeneration, following a 70% hepatectomy and 15 minutes of normothermic hepatic ischemia, serves as an indirect functional test of the reperfused liver. SOD (6 mg/kg) and allopurinol (50 mg/kg) have accelerated hepatocytic DNA synthesis without increasing the number or percentage of activated hepatocytes. However, the folinic acid has proved to be very effective, counteracting the deleterious effect of liver ischemia on hepatocytic regeneration.