Effects of inhalation of low-dose nitrite or carbon monoxide on post-reperfusion mitochondrial function and tissue injury in hemorrhagic shock swine

• Published in: Critical care (London, England) Vol. 19; no. 1; p. 184
• Main Authors: Haugaa, Håkon, Gómez, Hernando, Maberry, Donald R, Holder, Andre, Ogundele, Olufunmilayo, Quintero, Ana Maria B, Escobar, Daniel, Tønnessen, Tor Inge, Airgood, Hannah, Dezfulian, Cameron, Kenny, Elizabeth, Shiva, Sruti, Zuckerbraun, Brian, Pinsky, Michael R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 22-04-2015; BioMed Central
• Subjects: Adenosine; Administration, Inhalation; Animals; Apoptosis; Carbon monoxide; Carbon Monoxide - administration & dosage; Catheters; Complications and side effects; Critical care; Experiments; Glycerin; Glycerol; Hemorrhagic shock; Hogs; Hypoxia; Intensive care; Ischemia; Kinases; Lactates; Liver; Metabolism; Metabolites; Microdialysis - methods; Mitochondria - physiology; Nitric oxide; Nitrites - administration & dosage; Nitrous oxide; Oxygen Consumption - drug effects; Oxygen Consumption - physiology; Reperfusion Injury - metabolism; Reperfusion Injury - pathology; Reperfusion Injury - prevention & control; Risk factors; Rodents; Sepsis; Shock, Hemorrhagic - drug therapy; Shock, Hemorrhagic - metabolism; Shock, Hemorrhagic - pathology; Swine; Trauma; Treatment Outcome; Writing; Sweden
• ISSN: 1364-8535; 1466-609X; 1364-8535; 1366-609X
• DOI: 10.1186/s13054-015-0903-z

Tissue reperfusion following hemorrhagic shock may paradoxically cause tissue injury and organ dysfunction by mitochondrial free radical expression. Both nitrite and carbon monoxide (CO) may protect from this reperfusion injury by limiting mitochondrial free radial production. We explored the effects of very small doses of inhaled nitrite and CO on tissue injury in a porcine model of hemorrhagic shock.
Twenty pigs (mean wt. 30.6 kg, range 27.2 to 36.4 kg) had microdialysis catheters inserted in muscle, peritoneum, and liver to measure lactate, pyruvate, glucose, glycerol, and nitrite. Nineteen of the pigs were bled at a rate of 20 ml/min to a mean arterial pressure of 30 mmHg and kept between 30 and 40 mmHg for 90 minutes and then resuscitated. One pig was instrumented but not bled (sham). Hemorrhaged animals were randomized to inhale nothing (control, n = 7), 11 mg nitrite (nitrite, n = 7) or 250 ppm CO (CO, n = 5) over 30 minutes before fluid resuscitation. Mitochondrial respiratory control ratio was measured in muscle biopsies. Repeated measures from microdialysis catheters were analyzed in a random effects mixed model.
Neither nitrite nor CO had any effects on the measured hemodynamic variables. Following inhalation of nitrite, plasma, but not tissue, nitrite increased. Following reperfusion, plasma nitrite only increased in the control and CO groups. Thereafter, nitrite decreased only in the nitrite group. Inhalation of nitrite was associated with decreases in blood lactate, whereas both nitrite and CO were associated with decreases in glycerol release into peritoneal fluid. Following resuscitation, the muscular mitochondrial respiratory control ratio was reduced in the control group but preserved in the nitrite and CO groups.
We conclude that small doses of nebulized sodium nitrite or inhaled CO may be associated with intestinal protection during resuscitation from severe hemorrhagic shock.