Effect of Different Doses of Pregabalin on Erythrocyte Deformability in Rats with Lower Limb Ischemia Reperfusion Injury

Aim/Introduction: Acute ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury observed in the lower extremities occurs especially when a temporary cross-clamp is applied to the abdominal aorta during aortic surgery. Preoperative pregabalin has been used as a part of multimodal analgesia in postoperative pain treatment in recent years. Pregabalin has become one of the increasingly common agents in postoperative analgesia. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of pregabalin on erythrocyte deformability in rats undergoing IR. Materials and Methods: 24 male Wistar albino rats weighing between 200-250 g were used in the study. Rats were randomly divided into 4 groups of 6 rats each (Control, Ischemia-Reperfusion (IR), IR-Pregabalin 50 mg (50 mg.kg^(-1)), IR-Pregabalin 200 mg (200 mg.kg^(-1)). Pregabalin was administered intraperitoneally 30 min before the procedure. An atraumatic microvascular clamp was placed across the infrarenal abdominal aorta in the IR groups. Following 120 min of ischemia, the clamp was removed and reperfusion was continued for 120 min. All rats were euthanized by intraperitoneal administration of ketamine (100 mg‧kg^(-1)) and taking blood from the abdominal aorta. Erythrocytes were seperated from heparinized whole blood samples. Deformability measurements were made in erythrocyte suspensions in phosphate buffered saline. A constant flow filtrometer system was used to measure erythrocyte deformability and relative resistance was calculated. Results: It was found that the formation of ischemia reperfusion increases the relative resistance according to the control group (p ＜ 0.0001). It was determined that application of pregabalin 50 or 200 mg did not change erythrocyte deformability in ischemia reperfusion-induced rats (p = 0.632, p = 0.811). Conclusion: The administration of 50 or 200 mg of pregabalin has no negative effect on the erythrocyte deformability in ischemia reperfusion-induced rats. We think that pregabalin can be safely used for analgesia in the cases of IR. However, these findings should be supported by clinical and experimental studies carried out in more detailed and broader series.