The effect of remote ischemic preconditioning on healing of colonic anastomoses

Background. We aimed to investigate the potential protective effect of remote ischemic preconditioning (IPC) on delayed colonic anastomotic healing induced by remote ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury. Materials and methods. Forty male Wistar rats were randomly assigned into four groups, each consisting of 10 rats: the control group (C), the remote LIR group [I/R, 40 min of superior mesenteric artery (SMA) occlusion], the preconditioned LIR group (IPC, two cycles of 5 min temporary occlusion of SMA before an ischemic insult of 40 min), and the preconditioned group (PC, two cycles of 5 min temporary occlusion of SMA). Colonic anastomosis was performed immediately after the ischemic insult. Anastomotic healing was assessed on postoperative day 7 by determining anastomotic bursting pressure (ABP), tissue hydroxyproline content, histopathological examination, malondialdehyde (MDA), and nitric oxide levels. Results. Remote LIR injury resulted with significant impairment in anastomotic healing in terms of mean ABP (P = 0.004), hydroxyproline content (P = 0.002), histopathological healing score (P = 0.001), nitric oxide level (P = 0.010), and MDA levels (P = 0.0001) when compared with the control group, but remote IPC did not improve all above mentioned parameters (P = NS for all), except MDA level (P = 0.011) when compared with I/R group. PC alone impaired the ABP (P = 0.0001), but it did not significantly change the other parameters measured (P = NS). Conclusions. The results of this study showed that remote IPC did not prevent I/R-induced delaying in colonic anastomotic healing. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.