We have previously shown that prior exposure of rat hind limbs to ischaemia for five minutes and reperfusion for five minutes reduced the structural damage to skeletal muscle which followed a subsequent period of ischaemia for four hours and reperfusion for one hour. We have now examined the potential mechanisms by which this ischaemic preconditioning protocol may be effective in reducing damage to skeletal muscle induced by prolonged ischaemia and reperfusion. Prior exposure of the hindlimb to ischaemia for five minutes and reperfusion for five minutes did not prevent the fall in the ATP content of tibialis anterior which occurred after a subsequent period of ischaemia for four hours and reperfusion for one hour. Similarly, no effect of the preconditioning protocol was seen on the elevated muscle myeloperoxidase, indicative of an elevated neutrophil content, or abnormal muscle cation content. Reperfused ischaemic muscle was also found to have an increased content of heat-shock protein (HSP) 72, but the preconditioning protocol did not further increase the content of this or other HSPs indicating that it was not acting by increasing the expression of these cytoprotective proteins. The protective effects of preconditioning appeared to be mimicked by the infusion of adenosine to animals immediately before exposure to the four-hour period, indicating a potential mechanism by which skeletal muscle may be preconditioned to maintain structural viability

The stress response to trauma is the summation of the physiological response to the injury (the ‘first hit’) and by the response to any on-going physiological disturbance or subsequent trauma surgery (the ‘second hit’).

Our animal model was developed in order to allow the study of each of these components of the stress response to major trauma. High-energy, comminuted fracture of the long bones and severe soft-tissue injuries in this model resulted in a significant tropotropic (depressor) cardiovascular response, transcardiac embolism of medullary contents and activation of the coagulation system. Subsequent stabilisation of the fractures using intramedullary nails did not significantly exacerbate any of these responses.

Bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells were aspirated from immature male green fluorescent protein transgenic rats and cultured in a monolayer. Four weeks after the creation of the osteochondral defect, the rats were divided into three groups of 18: the control group, treated with an intra-articular injection of phosphate-buffered saline only; the drilling group, treated with an intra-articular injection of phosphate-buffered saline with a bone marrow-stimulating procedure; and the bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells group, treated with an intra-articular injection of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells plus a bone marrow-stimulating procedure. The rats were then killed at 4, 8 and 12 weeks after treatment and examined.

The histological scores were significantly better in the bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells group than in the control and drilling groups at all time points (p < 0.05). The fluorescence of the green fluorescent protein-positive cells could be observed in specimens four weeks after treatment.