Ischemia-reperfusion injury in isolated rat hindquarters

purpose of this study was to determine the suitability of the maximally vasodilated (papaverine) isolated rat hindquarters preparation to study the effects of ischemia and reperfusion on the microvasculature of skeletal muscle. The osmotic reflection coefficient for plasma proteins (a) and total vascular resistance ( RT, mmHg * ml-l ‘min + 100 g-l) were determined before is-chemic periods of 30, 60, 120, 180, and 240 min in intact (with skin) and 30, 60, and 120 min in skinned hindquarters and again after 60 min of reperfusion. In both intact and skinned hindquarters, reductions in c and increases in RT were observed during reperfusion and were correlated with the ischemic period duration. After 120 min of ischemia in intact and skinned hindquarters, u was reduced from preischemia values of 0.92 t 0.02 and 0.89 + 0.02 to 0.61 t 0.03 and 0.57 t 0.03, respectively, whereas RT was increased from preischemia levels of 8.9 k 0.