Objective(s): To study the effect of acute and repeated stress on cardioprotection-induced by remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC).Materials and Methods: RIPC was induced by giving 4 short cycles of ischemia and reperfusion, each consisting of five min. The Langendorff’s apparatus was used to perfuse the isolated rat hearts by subjecti...

Signalling pathways underlying the phenomenon of remote ischaemic preconditioning (RPc) cardioprotection are not completely understood. The existing evidence agrees that intact sensory innervation of the remote tissue/organ is required for the release into the systemic circulation of preconditioning factor(s) capable of protecting a transplanted or isolated heart. However, the source and molecu...

BACKGROUND Ischemic preconditioning provides strong cardioprotection from ischemia, but its molecular mechanisms remain unknown. Convincing evidence confirms a central role of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1 in mammalian oxygen homeostasis. Thus, we pursued HIF-1 as a central component of cardioprotection by ischemic preconditioning. METHODS AND RESULTS Murine studies of in situ precondition...

Morphine has been widely used as rescue treatment for heart attack and failure in humans for many decades. Relatively little has been known about the role of spinal opioid receptors in morphine cardioprotection. Recent studies have shown that intrathecal injection of morphine can reduce the heart injury caused by ischemia (I)/reperfusion (R) in rats. However, the molecular and cellular mechanis...

Akita Y, Otani H, Matsuhisa S, Kyoi S, Enoki C, Hattori R, Imamura H, Kamihata H, Kimura Y, Iwasaka T. Exercise-induced activation of cardiac sympathetic nerve triggers cardioprotection via redox-sensitive activation of eNOS and upregulation of iNOS. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 292: H2051–H2059, 2007. First published January 26, 2007; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.01102.2006.—We investigated the mec...

Caloric restriction (CR) confers cardioprotection against ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). We previously found that treatment with N(G)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester completely abrogates CR-induced cardioprotection and increases nuclear sirtuin 1 (Sirt1) expression. However, it remains unclear whether endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase (eNOS) plays a role in CR-induced cardioprotection an...

We determined whether isoflurane can confer delayed cardioprotection in the adult rat by triggering increased production of reactive oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen species (RNS). Our objectives were to determine 1) the concentration of isoflurane that confers delayed cardioprotection in the adult rat, 2) the role of ROS and RNS in the induction of delayed cardioprotection, and 3) the cellular source...

The aged heart has a diminished functional and adaptive reserve capacity, an increased susceptibility to incur damage (e.g., as a result of ischemia), and a limited practical ability for repair/regeneration. Thus, there has been considerable interest to harness the heart's endogenous capacity to resist such damage, known as ischemic preconditioning (IPC), as well as other cardioprotective mecha...

Nutraceuticals are natural and commonly found in bioactive foods or whole plants to keep energy balance in the body and promise substantial therapeutic value in cardioprotection. Major cardioprotective bioactive foods and nutraceuticals are now part of nutrition supplements at nonprescription counters and their self-prescription is increased at large scale. The literature suggests the growing u...