Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Delta opioids have been shown to confer ischemic preconditioning and pharmacologic ischemic preconditioning to the myocardium. However, their role in providing extended pharmacologic ischemic preconditioning in hemorrhagic shock has not been explored. The authors examined the effects of 24-hour preinfusions of a selective delta opioid receptor agonist, Deltorphin-Dvariant (Delt-Dvar), on hemodynamic stability and duration of survival in a rat model of severe hemorrhagic shock. ⋯ Twenty-four-hour pretreatment with Delt-Dvar decreases plasma lactate levels and improves hemodynamic stability and survival during hemorrhagic shock. The use of delta-specific opioids may improve survival from hemorrhagic shock and have clinical utility in providing ischemic protection in scenarios of planned ischemia.