Evaluation of astaxanthin effect with biochemical and histopathological findings in ischemia / reperfusion models created in the rats

Tourniquet is frequently used in extremity surgeons. The advantages of tourniquet are to facilitate an attempt by providing a bloodless environment, to reduce blood loss and shorten the duration of the operation. A tourniquet is a non-physiological application due to the obstruction of the blood flow by the distal tissues and the mechanical effect of the underlying neuromuscular structure. In addition to its beneficial effects, tourniquet-related nerve paralysis, vascular injuries, thromboemboli, compartment syndrome and extremity ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury remain well defined and still cause serious morbidity and mortality in orthopedic surgery. To date, a number of chemicals, drugs and physical methods have been investigated to protect muscle against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Although the effect of antioxidant astaxanthin against oxidative stress has been investigated in a number of studies, no literature on the use of astaxanthin against oxidative stress has been found. In this study we made an ischemia / reperfusion model to create a tourniquet effect in rats. We aimed to investigate the protective effect of astaxanthin against oxidative stress. Our study consisted of 4 groups; A, B, C and D groups. A total of 32 rats, 8 in each group, were used. Group A was the control group, group B was the ischemia / reperfusion group, group C was the ischemia / reperfusion + treatment group and group D was the drug group. v Serum and tissue samples were evaluated in biochemistry laboratory by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total oxidative status (TOS). Muscle tissue taken for histopathological study, tissue was evaluated for necrosis and inflammation. Immunohistochemical evaluation with caspase-3 was performed for apoptosis. There was a statistically significant difference between the I/R group and the I/R + treatment group for the serum SOD values between the groups (p = 0.028). When the necrosis score was evaluated, there was a significant difference between the I/R group and the I/R + treatment group (p = 0.005). There was a statistically significant difference between the I/R group and the I/R + treatment group when the inflammation findings were evaluated (p = 0.001). There was a statistically significant difference between the I/R group and the I/R + treatment group (p = 0,000) when evaluated with caspase-3 in terms of apoptosis. The healing effect of astaxanthin, used to prevent ischemia / reperfusion injury, has been demonstrated histopathologically in all data. The healing effect of astaxanthin has been shown in some of the biochemical data. We speculate that astaxanthin can be used to prevent complications due to tourniquet.