Combined morphine and limb remote ischemic perconditioning provides an enhanced protection against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury by antiapoptosis.

Background: Both morphine and limb remote ischemic perconditioning (RIPer) can protect against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI). This experiment was designed to assess whether combined morphine and limb RIPer could provide and enhanced protection against myocardial IRI in an in vivo rat model.

Methods: One hundred male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allocated to six groups: sham, ischemia/reperfusion (IR), ischemic preconditioning, RIPer, morphine (M), and combined morphine and remote ischemic perconditioning (M + RIPer).