Oxidative tissue damage following regional intestinal ischemia and reperfusion in the cat.

Regional intestinal ischemia in cats resulted in an accumulation of hypoxanthine within 2 h, the concentration of which rose from 0.062 to 1.131 nmol/mg protein. A similar rise in AMP content (from 0.5 to 3.2 nmol/mg protein) was observed, but not in the ADP level. In parallel, ATP content decreased from 7.5 to 2.8 nmol/mg protein. Reperfusion of the ischemic tissue was followed by rapid metabolism of the purine metabolites; after 1 h of reperfusion the tissue level of hypoxanthine was 0.186 nmol/mg protein, of AMP 0.7 nmol/mg protein, and of ATP 4.3 nmol/mg protein. The oxidation of hypoxanthine, mediated by xanthine oxidase, is accompanied by the release of superoxide ions. Consequently, the concentration of oxidized glutathione was doubled upon reperfusion, while marked lipid peroxidation took place, as evidenced by the rise in conjugated diene content from 2.8 mumol/g tissue before reperfusion to 5.6 mumol/g tissue after 10 min of reoxygenation. In line with these findings is the fact that histologically observable damage occurred mainly in the presence of oxygen. These data indicate that, at least in our model, rapid reoxygenation is a major cause of "ischemic" tissue damage.