Investigators at University of Bologna target perfusion.

According to recent research from Bologna, Italy, "Endotoxaemia can complicate hepatic ischaemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. Endocannabinoids appear to modulate the haemodynamic alterations and cytokine response induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)."

"Thus, we aimed to determine the effect of the endocannabinoid CB1-receptor antagonist Rimonabant in a model of hepatic IR injury complicated by endotoxaemia. Sprague-Dawley rats pre-treated with Rimonabant 3 or 10 mg/kg or vehicle underwent partial hepatic IR and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection at reperfusion. Liver injury was evaluated by serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and necrotic-cell count. The inflammatory response was …