BACKGROUND: Our objective was to access the biochemical alterations due to hepatic warm ischemia followed by reperfusion in two modalities of portal triad clamping in rats. METHOD: We divided thirty male Wistar rats, weighting between 250 and 320 grams into three groups with 10 animals each. Forty minutes of hepatic ischemia was induced by continuous (group I) or intermittent (group II) clamping. No clamping was used in control group. As a parameter of hepatocelular injury, plasma concentrations of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were measured. Blood specimens were obtained at the begining (T1) and at the end of the surgery (T2). All animals had the same operative time, 60 minutes. RESULTS: There was not statistic difference between baseline (T1) values of the three enzymes in all groups. All animals showed significant increases of all enzymes from moment 1 (T1) to moment 2 (T2). There was statistical difference in the mean increase of GOT and GPT between the three groups, but the greatest elevation was found in group I and the lowest, in control group. In LDH analysis, there was not significant difference between group II and control group. Group I, however, showed significant increases compared with the other two. CONCLUSION: Compared with the continuous clamping, to a total ischemic period of 40 minutes, intermittent portal triad clamping, in rats, with 10/5 minutes ischemia/reperfusion cycles, leads to a lesser hepatocelular damage, verified by the lowest enzymatic values.
Liver; Ischemia; Reperfusion; Constriction; Rats
