The use of hypertonic preconditioning in hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury

grantor: University of Toronto'Hypothesis'. We hypothesized that hypertonic saline (HTS) might alter expression of cytokines responsible for adhesion molecule expression and thus minimize PMN-mediated injury. 'Methods'. An ' in-vivo' model of rodent warm partial hepatic I/R m which rats were pretreated with HTS or normal saline was used to test our hypothesis. Liver injury was assessed by serum AST. DNA fragmentation and TUNEL staining were used to assess hepatic apoptosis. Hepatic PMN sequestration was measured by myeloperoxidase assay. Hepatic ICAM-1, VCAM-1, TNF-Ã, and IL-10 mRNA were assessed by northern blot and hepatic TNF-Ã protein was measured by ELISA. NF-[kappa]B activation was measured by EMSA. IL-10, HO-1, HSP-70, p38, JNK and STAT3 proteins were assessed by western blot. Activated EC (HUVECs) were used to determine the effect of hypertonicity (HT) on EC ICAM-1 ' in-vitro'. Peritoneal macrophages (PEMs) were used to examine the ability of HT to modulate macrophage cytokine production.M.Sc