Objective: To explore the possible mechanism of protective effects of curcumin against the ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI)  in liver autotransplantation  in rats.
Methods: A total of 54 male SD rats were randomly divided into three groups:curcumin preconditioning (CU) group,  0.5% sodium carboxymethycellulose preconditioning (CM) group, and the sham operation (SO) group.In CU and CM groups liver autotransplantation model were constructed.Then, 6 rats of each group were executed at 2, 6, 24 h after operation or liver reperfusion, respectively. Plasma samples were collected for ALT and AST test and liver tissues were harvested to detect the content of the MPO.
Results: The serum level of ALT and AST in CU group, and CM group was markedly elevated compared to SO group, but in CU group was  significantly lower than CM group at 2, 6, 24 h after reperfusion. Compared with SO group, the content of MPO was decreased significantly in CM group and CU group, and was significantly reduced  in CU group compared to CM group.
Conclusions: Curcumin preconditioning can attenuate liver IRI and the mechanism may be associated the decreasa of neutrophil infiltration.