Clinical Chemistry, Vol 27, 297-302, Copyright © 1981 by American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Quantification of damage to striated muscle after normothermic or hypothermic ischemia

M Presta and G Ragnotti

Muscular ischemia of different duration was induced by use of a tourniquet applied to the rear left leg of rabbits under normothermic or hypothermic conditions, and variations in serum creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, K+, Ca2+, and lactate were determined at various intervals after blood flow was restored. A monocompartmental model analysis applied to the activities of the two enzymes in the serum demonstrated that: (a) the total enzyme activity leaked into the blood is proportional to the duration of normothermic but not of hypothermic ischemia; (b) this enzyme leakage persists until at least the third day after blood flow is restored; (c) a substantial part of the ischemic damage seems to occur as a consequence of re-perfusion, not of the ischemia itself; and (d) hypothermia greatly minimizes the ischemic damage. The data we obtained for K+ and for lactate confirm the protective effect of hypothermia.

The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:

				J J McInerney, A Breakell, W Madira, T G Davies, and P A Evans Accidental hypothermia and active rewarming: the metabolic and inflammatory changes observed above and below 32{degrees}C Emerg. Med. J., May 1, 2002; 19(3): 219 - 223. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Ihnken, F. Beyersdorf, Z. Mitrev, U. Unkelbach, Y. Poloczek, R. Hallmann, and G. Zimmer Controlled Reperfusion Reduces Reperfusion Injury in Skeletal Muscle After Incomplete Limb Ischemia Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, May 1, 1994; 28(4): 241 - 259. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. E. Kirschner and G. A. Fantini Role of Iron in Reoxygenation Injury of Postischemic Skeletal Muscle Perspectives in Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, January 1, 1992; 5(2): 69 - 83. [PDF]