Effects of Allopurinol on Ischemia and Reperfusion in Rabbit Livers

• DOI: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2009.02.051
• Publication Date: 2009-04-18T08:38:34Z
• Authors: M.O. Taha; M.J. Simões; E.C. Noguerol; F.P. Mendonça; H.M.A. Pascoalick; R.A.M. Alves; M.E.M. Vivian; F.P. Morales; A.C.A. Campos; K.G. Magalhães; P.S. Venerando; I.L.S. Tersariol; H.P. Monteiro; I. Oliveira; A. Jurkiewicz; A. Caricati-Neto
• Keywords: Allopurinol; Lactic dehydrogenase; Lagomorpha; Xanthine dehydrogenase

In this work, we evaluated the effects of allopurinol (ALO), an inhibitor of xanthine oxidase (XO), on hepatic lesions caused by ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) in the rabbit liver. Rabbits were pretreated with ALO (10 mg/kg IV) or saline solution 0.9% before the hepatic I/R procedure. The effects of ALO on hepatic injury were evaluated before and after I/R. A standard, warm hepatic I/R procedure caused profound acute liver injury, as indicated by elevated serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and lactic dehydrogenase levels, as well as a high apoptotic cell count. All of these changes were reversed by the administration of ALO before the hepatic I/R procedure. In conclusion, ALO exerted protective effects on hepatic I/R lesions. This protective effect of ALO was probably associated with blocking the generation of superoxide anions during the hepatic I/R procedure by inhibiting XO activity.