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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Oct 19.
Published in final edited form as: Compr Physiol. 2016 Dec 6;7(1):113–170. doi: 10.1002/cphy.c160006

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Total injury sustained by a tissue subjected to ischemia followed by reperfusion (I/R) (black bars) is attributable to ischemia per se (blue bars) and a component that is due to reestablishing the blood supply (red bars). At the onset of prolonged ischemia two separate general pathologic processes are initiated. The first are processes of tissue injury that are due to ischemia per se. The second are biochemical changes that occur during ischemia that contribute to the surge in generation of reactive oxygen species and infiltration of proinflammatory neutrophils and other immunocytes when molecular oxygen is reintroduced to the tissues during reperfusion. For a treatment to be effective in reducing cellular dysfunction and/or death when administered at the onset of reperfusion (therapeutic window), reestablishing the blood supply must occur before damage attributable to ischemia per se exceeds the viability threshold for irreversible damage. Concepts from Bulkley, 1987 (100).