The effect of ozone treatment on experimental colon anastomosis in rats

Summary Background Colonic anastomosis is a common surgical procedure. Complications after such surgery are still a major problem despite advances in techniques. We aimed to evaluate the effects of pre-operative and postoperative ozone administration on the recovery of colonic anastomoses in rats in this study. Methods An end-to-end colon anastomosis was created in the left colon under anesthesia in all experiment group animals. The control group was left alone for 4 days. The other two groups were administered intraperitoneal ozone at a dose of 1 mg/kg once a day. Ozone therapy was started 24 h after surgery to one group (ozone) and 1 h before surgery to the other group (pre-ozone). Samples for biochemical measurements were obtained from the operation site after adhesion scoring was performed and the burst pressure measured. Results The burst pressure and OH-proline measurements in the ozone group were found to be significantly higher than in the other groups ( p ˂ 0.05). These values were not different between the pre-ozone and control groups ( p ˃ 0.05). The MDA values of the ozone group were significantly lower but the antioxidant enzyme levels (except superoxide dismutase) were significantly higher than the other two groups. The TNF-α and IL-6 levels of the ozone group were significantly lower while the IL-10 levels were significantly higher compared with the other two groups. Conclusion We therefore feel that ozone treatment after surgery could be important in terms of accelerating colon anastomosis recovery. Ozone administration supports recovery by reducing oxidative stress and proinflammatory cytokines.