Dexamethasone attenuates microvascular ischemia-reperfusion injury in the rat cremaster muscle.

We examined the effect of dexamethasone (DXM) pretreatment on microvascular transport of macromolecules in ischemia-reperfusion injury. The rat cremaster muscle was splayed, placed in a Lucite intravital chamber, and suffused with bicarbonate buffer. The clearance of fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran 150 (FITC-Dx 150) was measured as an index of microvascular transport. After determination of baseline data, the muscle was made ischemic for 2 hr by clamping its vascular pedicle, and subsequently reperfused for 2 hr. Ischemia-reperfusion produced a marked increase in clearance of FITC-Dx 150. After an initial peak of 13 times baseline value clearance fell to approximately 4 times baseline level 30 min into the reperfusion period. Clearance increased slowly throughout the remainder of the experiment, reaching 6 times baseline after 2 hr of reperfusion. The treated animals received DXM 3 hr prior to and immediately preceding the pedicle clamping. DXM reduced macromolecular clearance significantly after the first 30 min of reperfusion, and prevented the increase in clearance over time. After an initial peak, clearance values fell to near twice baseline in DXM-treated animals, and remained at this level for the 2 hr of reperfusion. Our data demonstrate that DXM attenuates the alternations in microvascular macromolecular transport produced by ischemia-reperfusion injury.