Effects of papaverine in hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats

Background and Aims: The present study aimed to investigate the in- volvement of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor and vasodilator papave- rine in hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in the Experimental Animals Laboratory of Dokuz Eylul University. Totally, 21 female Wistar albino rats were divi- ded into three groups as: (1) Sham Group: the abdomen was surgically opened and closed without any surgical procedure. (2) Control Group: the hepatic portal triad was clipped with microvascular clips and 20 mg/kg normal saline was administered 30 minutes after the ischemia. (3) Experimental (Papaverine) Group: the portal triad was clipped as described above and 20 mg/kg papaverine was administered 30 minu- tes after the ischemia. Sixty-minutes of ischemia followed by 120 minu- tes of reperfusion were induced in Groups 2 and 3. Histopathological evaluation of the damage was performed according to Suzuki's scoring system. The sections were analyzed for hydropic swelling, granular de- generation, microvesicular vacuolization, macrovesicular vacuolization, and focal necrosis cord disorder in the parenchyma, for inflammation and fibrosis in the portal area, and for hyperemia in the sinusoids. Re- sults: According to the statistical evaluation of our study, it was shown that ischemia-reperfusion injury was significantly reduced in the study group compared with the control in all parameters except focal necro- sis and hydropic swelling. Conclusions: We concluded that papaverine may reduce damage in a hepatic ischemia-reperfusion model.