Abstract: ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of ischemic preconditioning (IPC) in the posterior limbs of rats of donor' pancreas graft, and analyze the correlations with adenosine. Methods18 steptozozin (STZ)-induced diabetic SD rats were randomly assigned to 3 groups: group I/R (n=6) received pancreas transplantation alone (PTA), Group IPC (n=6) received pancreas transplantation alone exposed IPC with 5 minutes ischemic and 5 minutes reperfusion induced by ligating donor's posterior limb three times before ablating donors, Group IPC+DPCPX received same treatment with Group IPC, but separately injected adenosine A1 receptor antagonist 8-cyclopentyl-1, 3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX) before IPC. The blood glucose, TNF-α in serum, MDA and MPO in pancreatic tissue were monitored before and after reperfusion, and apoptotice cells were stained by TUNEL technique 2 h after reperfusion.ResultsThe blood glucose, TNF-α, apoptotice index (AI), MDA and MPO of group I/R were higher than that of Group IPC and Group IPC+DPCPX after reperfusion(P<0.01), but those of Group IPC+DPCPX were not markedly different with Group IPC(P>0.05). ConclusionIPC in the posterior limbs of rats can protect rat pancreas graft from I/R injury during PTA. Adenosine do not participate in the signal mechanism of this protection.

Key words: pancreas transplantation, ischemic preconditioning, adenosine, rat