The present study was designed to determine the effect of various core temperatures on acute lung injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) in our isolated rabbit lung model. Typical acute lung injury was successfully induced by 30 min of ischemia followed by 90 min of reperfusion observation. The I/R elicited a significant increase in pulmonary arterial pressure, microvascular permeability (measured by using the capillary filtration coefficient, Kfc), Delta Kfc ratio, lung weight gain and the protein concentration of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Mild hypothermia significantly attenuated acute lung injury induced by I/R, all parameters having decreased significantly (p<0.05); conversely, mild hyperthermia did not further exacerbate acute lung injury. These experimental data suggest that mild hypothermia significantly ameliorated acute lung injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion in rabbits.