Surgery protocols. Ischemia-reperfusion (IR, n = 36) was elicited by 3 h ischemia (I). For animals in the remote ischemic postconditioning group (RIP, n = 36), this was followed by three cycles of 30 s of reperfusion (R) followed by 30 s of I. There was no intervention in the sham group (n = 36). All groups were examined after 0, 1, 3, 6, 12 or 24 h of R.