• M Imai, S Kon, and H Inaba.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Chiba University School of Medicine, Japan.
• Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 1996 Nov 1; 40 (10): 1242-8.

BackgroundAlthough intraoperative ischemia-reperfusion of the liver generally occurs under general anesthesia, little is known about the direct effect of anesthetic agents on hepatic injury due to this phenomenon. The effect of volatile anesthetics on ischemia-reperfusion injury was studied using isolated liver perfusion.MethodsThe liver was isolated from 24-h-fasted male Sprague-Dawley rats and perfused through the portal vein with a modified Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate solution in a recirculating perfusion-aeration system. Ischemia was induced by reducing the baseline perfusion pressure from 1.2 to 0.2 kPa followed by reperfusion to baseline level. The ischemia-reperfusion injury was assessed by LDH release from the perfused liver. We studied the effect of halothane, isoflurane and sevoflurane on the ischemia-reperfusion injury during 20 min of control conditions, exposure of the liver to 60 min of ischemia and reperfusion for 90 min.ResultsIschemia was evident by reduced portal vein flow and oxygen consumption, and caused an increase in lactate production. Reperfusion caused a transient reduction in lactate production and a significant increase in LDH release. All anesthetics reduced hepatic oxygen consumption and increased the net lactate production during control conditions. Volatile anesthetics also significantly attenuated LDH release during reperfusion. The suppression of LDH release was observed even when isoflurane was administered during the reperfusion period, but not when it was administered only during ischemia.ConclusionThese results indicate that volatile anesthetics may protect the fasted liver from early, neutrophil-independent, ischemia-reperfusion injury by acting during the reperfusion phase.

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