Protective Effect of Contralateral, Ipsilateral, and Bilateral Remote Ischemic Preconditioning on Spinal Cord Ischemia Reperfusion Injury in Rats

AIM: To evaluate the effect of different remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) methods in spinal cord ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. MATERIAL and METHODS: A total of 36 rats were distributed to the 6 groups: sham surgery, control (only spinal cord IR), unilateral (hind limb RIPC before spinal cord IR), bilateral (hind limbs RIPC before spinal cord IR), ipsilateral (hind and fore limbs RIPC to the right before spinal cord IR), contralateral (right hind limb and left fore limb as RIPC before spinal cord IR). Thirty minutes after RIPC, the spinal cord was subjected to ischemia for 60 minutes. Seventy two hours after IR, all rats were evaluated by neurological function, histological and biochemical examinations. RESULTS: The mean Motor Deficit Index (MDI) scores in the ipsilateral, contralateral, and bilateral groups were lower than that of the unilateral group (p<0.05). The mean malondialdehyde (MDA) in ipsilateral group was lower than were control group (p<0.05). The mean total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and the mean number of normal motor neurons in the experimental groups were significantly higher than increased control group (p<0.05). The mean plasma levels of catalase in the contralateral, ipsilateral, and bilateral groups were significantly increased compared to control group (p<0.05). The mean scores of white matter damage in contralateral, bilateral, and unilateral groups were lower than control group (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that contralateral, ipsilateral, and bilateral limb RIPC may reduce the complications of spinal cord ischemic injury.