Review Volume 10, Issue 8 pp 1825—1855

Figure 2. General illustration of remote ischemic conditioning (RIC). Remote ischemic conditioning, in which transient sublethal episodes of ischemia and reperfusion are applied to a limb (upper arm or thigh) or limbs, can be delivered before (remote ischemic preconditioning), during (remote ischemic perconditioning) or after (remote ischemic postconditioning) a subsequent and potentially lethal ischemic attack. Neuronal, humoral as well as immunological mediators are postulated to exert critical roles in the transduction of protective signals generated from limbs and surrounding structures to the targeted organs or tissues. The application of RIC has been extended from initially reducing cardiac infarct sizes resulting from acute myocardial infarction to providing protection for a diversity of organs or tissues (other than the heart), which are likely susceptible to ischemia-reperfusion injury, such as the brain, kidney, lung, liver and skin.