Abstract

The preconditioning with short limb ischemia has been shown to be protective to prevent tissue damage caused by ischemia. Numerous underlying factors have been suggested to be important in these processes, including heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). This study investigated the potential protective mechanism mediated by HO-1 for lung protection in a rat model of limb ischemia and reperfusion. The results showed that HO-1 was upregulated by pre-conditioning treatment (transient ischemia), and was associated with lung protection, which could be reversed with HO-1 inhibitor administration. Moreover, the upstream regulator of HO-1,nuclear factor kappa beta (NF-kB) was increased with pre-conditioning treatment, suggesting the role of inflammatory signaling in protective mechanism of limb ischemia pre-conditioning.

Key words: Lung injury, limb ischemia, reperfusion, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), nuclear factor kappa beta (NF-kB), inflammation.