The effect of hypothermia on liver adenosine triphosphate (ATP) recovery following combined shock and ischemia.

During both hemorrhagic shock and ischemia, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentrations fall in liver tissue. Incomplete recovery of ATP correlates with cell death and subsequent organ dysfunction. Changes in liver ATP levels were evaluated in paired groups of rats subjected to combined hemorrhagic shock and ischemia. A second set of paired animals was studied over time with shock alone. One animal in each pair was maintained at 28 degrees C and the other at 37 degrees C. Ischemia was produced by occluding inflow to the left half of the liver, and tissue was obtained from this area in all animals studied. Adenosine triphosphate levels fell in warm and cold animals subjected to both shock and 60 minutes of ischemia but recovered more completely during reperfusion in the cold animals. Shock alone caused a steady fall in ATP levels in the warm, but not the cold rats. These biochemical changes may indicate a beneficial effect of moderate hypothermia in the management of severe liver hemorrhage requiring temporary occlusion of blood flow.