RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Acute mesenteric ischemia is a challenging and fatal disease. The aim of this study was to detect the heat shock protein 32 (HSP32) response in intestinal tissue and systemic blood to intestinal ischemia and ischemia/reperfusion to define a tool for the early diagnosis of acute mesenteric ischemia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty female Wistar albino rats were equally divided into 3 groups. Group 1 rats underwent simple laparotomy and closure (control). In Group 2 rats, 1-hour intestinal ischemia followed by 5-hour reperfusion was performed, and Group 3 rats were subjected to 6-hour intestinal ischemia. The experiment was repeated with a 24-hour waiting period. At the end of the waiting period, blood was withdrawn from the tail veins of the rats and the rats were sacrificed via cardiac puncture. Re-laparotomy was subsequently performed and intestinal tissue and luminal samples were obtained for biochemical and pathological investigations. The HSP32 levels of intestinal tissues, luminal contents and blood levels were compared among the groups. RESULTS: At the end of the 24-hour waiting period, the median tissue HSP32 levels were 0.43 (0-6.6) ng/mL for Group 1, 9.51 (2.5-49.9) ng/mL for Group 2 and 43.13 (6.3-121.3) ng/mL for Group 3 (p=0.001). The median blood HSP32 levels were 0.11 (0.1-1.4) ng/mL for Group 1, 0.42 (0.1-0.7) ng/mL for Group 2, and 0.25 (0.1-1.2) ng/mL for Group 3 (p=0.047). The HSP levels in the luminal contents were undetectable. CONCLUSION: Both ischemia and ischemia/reperfusion significantly raised intestinal tissue HSP32 levels in comparison with the control group. However, this change was not reflected in the circulating blood or luminal contents.