Background. Intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IIR) induces hepat
ic and pulmonary dysfunction and thus has been used a a model of multi
ple organ failure syndrome. This study examines the hypothesis that he
patic blood flow is markedly reduced in this injury model. Methods. Sp
rague-Dawley rats underwent 120 minutes of intestinal ischemia and 60
minutes of reperfusion (IIR). Hepatic blood flow was measured with rad
iolabeled microspheres and Doppler flow probes. Hepatic dysfunction wa
s quantitated by measuring bile flow and serum alanine aminotransferas
e and hepatic tissue adenosine triphosphate levels. Sham-operated anim
als served as controls. Results. Intestinal ischemia reduced portal fl
ow by 66% when compared with sham-operated animals (p = 0.0001) but ha
d no effect on hepatic arterial flow. In contrast, reperfusion reduced
hepatic artery flow by 80% when compared with controls (p = 0.002) wi
th most of this change occurring within 5 minutes of reperfusion. IIR
induced a 63% reduction in bile flow (p < 0.05), a fivefold rise in se
rum alanine aminotransferase level (p < 0.0002), and a 33% reduction i
n hepatic adenosine triphosphate level (p < 0.05). Conclusions. These
data suggest that IIR induces profound hepatic hypoperfusion, which is
temporally related to acute hepatic dysfunction. This observation sug
gests that hepatic ischemia may contribute to IIR-induced liver injury
.