Prolonged skeletal muscle ischemia has been reported in acute arterial occlusion and crush syndrome. It often induces progressive edema and necrosis and occasionally life-threatening systemic complications, such as hypotension, hyperkalemia, acidosis, pulmonary edema, and acute renal failure. As in other organs, ischemic injury in skeletal muscle is initiated during hypoxia and is aggravated by reoxygenation during blood reperfusion. This study aimed at examining the protective effect of

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... dative enzymes, superoxide dismutase and catalase, on ischemia-reperfusion injury in skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscles in rat hindlimb were subjected to in vivo ischemia by clamping both the infrarenal aorta and the bilateral femoral arteries for 4 h and to the subsequent blood reperfusion for 1 h under profound anesthesia with pentobarbitone. An attempt was made to suppress the muscle injury by infusing superoxide dismutase and catalase 5 min before starting reperfusion. Tissue water content was significantly increased by reperfusion.