Essential Role for Nuclear Factor κB in Ischemic Preconditioning for Cold Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury of Intestinal Transplantation

Abstract

Objective The present study was designed to examine whether ischemic preconditioning could play a protective role on cold ischemia and reperfusion injury associated with intestinal transplantation in rats. Methods The 48 male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly assigned to 2 groups. Ischemic preconditioning was performed in experimental but not control rats by preserving the self donor small bowel in Ringer lactate solution at 4 °C for 3 hours (n = 6), 6 hours (n = 6), 12 hours (n = 6), or 18 hours (n = 6). One hour reperfusion was performed for every rat after orthotopic transplantation of donor small bowel. Small bowel samples were obtained for histological examination and immunohistochemistry analysis of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) expression. Result The small intestinal villus was arranged more regularly in experimental compared with control rats. Ischemia preconditioning also decreased edema in the muscule layer and increased Chiu score in experimental rats. Immunohistochemistry analysis revealed that ischemic preconditioning down-regulated the expression of NF-κB in the epithelia of experimental rats. Conclusion Ischemic preconditioning improved intestinal transplantation in rats from cold ischemia and reperfusion injury by down-regulating the expression of NF-κB.