After Columbia University IACUC approval, male C57BL/6 mice (25–30g, Harlan, Indianapolis, IN) were anesthetized with intraperitoneal pentobarbital, 50 mg/kg or to effect. Mice were placed under a heating lamp and on a 37°C heating pad. After a midline laparotomy and intraperitoneal application of 20 U heparin, left lateral and median lobes of the liver were subjected to 60 min. of ischemia with a microaneurysm clip occluding the hepatic triad above the bifurcation. This method of partial hepatic ischemia results in a segmental (~70%) hepatic ischemia but spares the right lobe of the liver and prevents mesenteric venous congestion by allowing portal decompression through the right and caudate lobes of the liver (10 (link),11 (link)). Preliminary studies showed that 30, 60 or 90 min. of liver ischemia causes mild, moderate or severe liver injury, respectively. The liver was kept moist with gauze soaked in 0.9% normal saline. The body temperature was monitored by an infrared temperature sensor (Linear Laboratories, Fremont, CA) and maintained at 37°C using a heating lamp and a heating pad. After 60 minutes, the liver was reperfused and the wound closed. Sham operated mice were subjected to laparotomy and identical liver manipulations without the vascular occlusion. Twenty four hr after reperfusion, the liver tissue subjected to IR and both kidneys were collected to measure necrosis, neutrophil infiltration (with immunohistochemistry) and apoptosis (with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling staining). In some mice, liver and kidneys were collected 4 hr after reperfusion to detect renal inflammation by RT-PCR for pro-inflammatory cytokine mRNAs. We also collected plasma for the measurement of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and creatinine (Cr) 4 and 24 hr after reperfusion.