Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. Dec 20, 2025; 15(4): 104472
Published online Dec 20, 2025. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v15.i4.104472
Cytoprotective effect of prostacyclin on hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury
Christina Mouratidou, Efstathios T Pavlidis, Georgios Katsanos, Maria Papaioannou, Argyri Niti, Serafeim-Chrysovalantis Kotoulas, Georgios Tsoulfas, Eleni Mouloudi, Ioannis N Galanis, Theodoros E Pavlidis
Christina Mouratidou, Serafeim-Chrysovalantis Kotoulas, Eleni Mouloudi, Intensive Care Unit, Hippokration General Hospital, Thessaloniki 54642, Greece
Efstathios T Pavlidis, Ioannis N Galanis, Theodoros E Pavlidis, The 2nd Department of Propaedeutic Surgery, Hippokration General Hospital, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54642, Greece
Georgios Katsanos, Georgios Tsoulfas, Department of Transplantation Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Medicine, Thessaloniki 54642, Greece
Maria Papaioannou, Laboratory of Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece
Argyri Niti, Biohellenika, Biotechnology Company, Thessaloniki 55535, Greece
Co-corresponding authors: Efstathios T Pavlidis and Theodoros E Pavlidis.
Author contributions: Mouratidou C, Pavlidis ET, Katsanos G, Tsoulfas G designed research, performed research and analyzed data; Kotoulas SC, Mouloudi E, Galanis IN contributed new analytic tools, analyzed data and review the paper; Papaioannou M, Niti A contributed to data collection and analyzed data; Pavlidis TE analyzed data review and approved the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Theodoros E Pavlidis, MD, PhD, Emeritus Professor, The 2nd Department of Propaedeutic Surgery, Hippokration General Hospital, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Konstantinoupoleos 49, Thessaloniki 54642, Greece. pavlidth@auth.gr
Received: December 24, 2024
Revised: March 10, 2025
Accepted: March 20, 2025
Published online: December 20, 2025
Processing time: 226 Days and 4.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury is a critical event that affects the outcomes of liver surgery, transplantation and many other major clinical conditions. The reoxygenation of ischemic hepatocytes activates complex inflammatory processes, which lead to oxidative stress that has deleterious local and global consequences. Prostacyclin (PGI2) is a well-known member of the prostaglandin family with potent vasodilative, platelet-inhibiting and anti-inflammatory effects. Several reports have detailed the cytoprotective effects of PGI2 analogs on hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury. In this review, we discuss the underlying mechanisms of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury and the potential hepatoprotective effects of PGI2 analogs.