Objectives    To study the potential effects and clinical application value of controlled hypothermia on secondary lung damage after explosive injury of limb in rats.     Methods    Explosive limb injury model was adopted. Healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats (210-220 g) were randomly divided into four groups with 8 in each group: simple explosive injury group (Ⅰ)

systemic hypothermia group [Ⅱ

(32.0±0.5)℃ for 6 h]

regional hypothermia group [Ⅲ

(10.0±1.0)℃ for 6 h]

and normal control group (C). TNF-α

IL-6

IL-10

and MDA concentrations in lung homogenate were determined. Lung pathological changes were observed.     Results    TNF-α

IL-6

IL-10

and MDA concentrations in lung were remarkably increased after injury as compared with control group (P0.01). Severe inflammatory cell infiltration and pneumonedema were seen in Group  Ⅰ. In systemic or regional hypothermia therapy group

however

TNF-α

IL-6

IL-10

and MDA concentrations were significantly lower than Group  Ⅰ  (P0.05)

and inflammatory cell infiltration and pneumonedema were also remarkably relieved.     Conclusion    Early controlled systemic or regional hypothermia can inhibit inflammatory reaction and oxidative reaction

relieve explosive injury-induced lung damage. Furthermore，regional hypothermia has a mild impact on blood-clotting function as compared with systemic hypothermia

so it may be superior to systemic hypothermia in the fields of therapy for explosive injury.