Succinate pretreatment attenuates intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury by inhibiting necroptosis and inflammation via upregulating Klf4

•Succinate pretreatment attenuates the intestinal I/R injury and the distant organs damage.•Succinate pretreatment promotes Klf4 expression in IEC-6 H/R models and intestinal I/R models.•KLF4 inhibitor impairs the protective effect of succinate pretreatment on intestinal I/R injury.•Succinate pretreatment may be a novel approach for the prevention of intestinal I/R injury.