ISCHEMIA-REPERFUSION INJURY - A SMALL ANIMAL PERSPECTIVE

Disease processes that produce ischaemia are a common cause of morbidi ty and mortality in companion animals. The majority of damage to trans iently ischaemia tissues occurs following reperfusion and not during i schaemia per se. This discovery raises the encouraging prospect that t herapeutic intervention prior to reperfusion may reduce the severity o f ischaemic damage. Recently, the central role of oxygen-derived free radicals (oxyradicals) in reperfusion injury has been demonstrated. It appears that the adverse consequences of ischaemic diseases can be re duced by optimizing the anti-oxidant capability of tissues with anti-o xidant nutrients or drugs. The importance of oxyradicals in individual ischaemic diseases of the dog and cat, however, remains largely uninv estigated. Similarly, the best pharmaceutical and nutritional approach es to the therapy of oxyradical-mediated damage have yet to be devised .