Ablation of free radical-mediated reperfusion injury for the salvage of kidneys taken from non-heartbeating donors: A quantitative evaluation of the proportion of injury caused by reperfusion following periods of warm, cold, and combined warm and cold ischemia

Postischemic renal failure is a severe problem following cadaveric renal transplantation, especially if the kidney has been harvested from a non-heartbeating donor, and thereby subjected to periods of both warm and cold ischemia. It is well established that a substantial component of postischemic injury is produced by oxygen-derived free radicals generated from xanthine oxidase at reperfusion. However, the clinical potential of free radical ablative therapy is dependent upon the proportion of the total injury caused by this reperfusion mechanism, compared with the proportion resulting from ischemic injury per se. Therefore, we quantitatively evaluated these proportions in porcine kidneys subjected to various periods of warm (renal artery occlusion in situ), cold (harvest, cold preservation, and allotransplantation), and combined warm and cold ischemia. Experiments were paired, one kidney treated.