Effect of ischemia reperfusion or hypoxia reoxygenation on lung vascular permeability and resistance. The effect of ischemia reperfusion or hypoxia reoxygenation on pulmonary vascular permeability and resistance was studied in 25 isolated blood-perfused dog lungs. Vascular permeability, assessed by determining filtration coefficient (Kf), and vascular resistances were measured at the beginning and end of the experiment. Ischemia reperfusion was produced by occluding blood flow to the lung for 3 h and reperfusing for 1 h, whereas hypoxia reoxygenation was obtained by ventilating the lung with 95% N2-5% CO2 for 3 h and then ventilating with 95% O2-5% CO2 for 1 h with no interruption of perfusion. There was a significant increase in Kf in both ischemia reperfusion and hypoxia reoxygenation groups (51 and 85%, respectively), and total vascular resistance increased greatly in both groups (386 and 532%, respectively). Two additional groups were also studied in which the ischemia reperfusion or hypoxia reoxygenation lungs were pretreated with allopurinol (20 micrograms/ml). The Kf did not significantly increase in either the allopurinol ischemia reperfusion or the allopurinol hypoxia reoxygenation groups (22 and 6%, respectively). However, total vascular resistance significantly increased in both groups (239 and 224%, respectively). Although vascular permeability is modestly increased by both ischemia reperfusion and hypoxia reoxygenation, the predominant change in these conditions is the increased vascular resistance, which predominantly affects the postcapillary resistance and would result in a greater tendency for edema to develop in these slightly damaged lungs. Allopurinol, which inhibits xanthine oxidase, attenuated the permeability changes in both groups and may be useful in preventing ischemia reperfusion injury in certain conditions. 