Surgery
-
Intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury can cause a high rate of mortality in the perioperative period. Remifentanil has been reported to provide protection for organs against I/R injury. We hypothesized that remifentanil preconditioning would attenuate the small intestinal injury induced by intestinal I/R. ⋯ Remifentanil preconditioning appears to act via δ- and μ-opioid receptors to protect the small intestine from intestinal I/R injury by attenuating apoptosis of the intestinal mucosal epithelial cells.