Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-MgCl2 attenuates ischemia-reperfusion (I-R)-induced lung injury in rats. A previous study indirectly suggests that Mg2+-dependent ecto-ATPases on the surface of leukocytes are responsible for the hydrolysis of ATP-MgCl2 to adenosine, which then contributes to the protective effect of ATP-MgCl2. This study investigated the role of leukocytes in I-R injury and the protective effect of ATP-MgCl2 in our buffer-perfused isolated rat lung model. After isolating the lung blood flow of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats, the lungs were perfused through the pulmonary artery cannula with a physiologic salt solution containing human serum albumin. The protective effect of ATP-MgCl2 pretreatment with or without leukocytes was investigated. Capillary permeability (Kfc), lung weight gain (LWG), lung wet weight/body weight ratio (LW/BW), lung lavage protein concentration (LPC) and pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) were measured. I-R produced a significant increase in Kfc, LWG, LW/BW, LPC, and PAP. The increases in these indices were significantly attenuated by pretreatment with ATP-MgCl2 (1 × 10–6M) together with leukocytes (2.9 × 106/ml in the perfusate) but not with ATP-MgCl2 alone. Our data suggest that I-R-induced acute lung injury is not dependent on circulating leukocytes. Pretreatment with ATP-MgCl2 plus leukocytes but not ATP-MgCl2 alone had protective effects against I-R lung injury. Whether these findings occur in vivo could not be determined in this study. In our isolated lung red blood cell-free perfusate system, the protective effect of ATP-MgCl2 requires the presence of leukocytes.
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