Figure 3

Grading of the injury in the small intestine after ischemia-reperfusion or sham operation. No injury was defined as grade 0; increasing severity of injury was graded from 1 to 5 as described in Figure 1. The presence or absence of mucosal injury in the jejunum (A) and ileum (B) after sham operation (Sham) or ischemia-reperfusion (IR) is shown. Open bars indicate saline pretreatment, remifentanil-preconditioning is represented by the filled bars. The insets display the percentage for each of the grades in the IR set. Chi-square analysis demonstrated significantly more damaged villi in the saline pretreated mice than the RPC animals (P < 0.001). Results are shown as means of percentages ± s.e.m; *, P < 0.05 for saline vs remifentanil; #, P < 0.05 for sham (treatment groups combined) vs IR. n = 9 for saline and n = 7 for remifentanil (IR group); n = 4 for each treatment (Sham group).