To the Editor: The article by Feng et al1 caused a revolution in current thinking regarding the pathomechanism involved in myocardial stunning, in that it irrefutably proved that there is no causal link between troponin I (TnI) degradation and the transiently depressed contractile function after a brief ischemic episode. However, does this fact imply that there is no answer to the question of w...

In anesthetized pigs, we investigated whether asynchrony (Δ T) and nonuniformity (regional differences) in contractility (Δ E) could describe the interaction between normal and stunned myocardium. Mechanical interaction was evaluated by regional postsystolic work (PSW) before and after production of stunning by a 5-min occlusion of the left circumflex coronary artery [LCX (LCX stunning)] and a ...

A good stunning method must render an animal unable to experience pain and sensation prior to hoisting and slaughter. The three basic types of stunning methods which are classified as being humane (i.e., painless) in the United States, Europe and other foreign countries are captive bolt (penetrating and nonpenetrating), electrical, and C02 (carbon dioxide) gas anesthesia. The physiological mech...

The practice of electrically stunning poultry, which is standard in slaughterhouses across North America 1, results in both poor welfare and carcass degradation. In terms of welfare, the many variables and frequent process failures associated with electrical stunning methods make it difficult to ensure adequate stunning and result in pain and suffering for birds who experience prestun shocks, h...

The overwhelming majority of farmed fish produced throughout the world are killed with little or no consideration for their welfare. Fasting periods can be excessive, transport stressful and killing inhumane. At the time of writing, the salmon industry is the only sector in which consideration of the welfare of the fish at slaughter has resulted in significant improvements throughout most of th...

We evaluated the hypothesis that stunning swine myocardium with brief ischemia reduces oxygen demand in the stunned region and increases tolerance of myocardium to longer periods of ischemia. Wall function was quantified with ultrasonic crystals aligned to measure wall thickening, and stunning was achieved with two cycles of left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) occlusion (10 minutes) ...

A randomized complete block design with 3 replications (n = 432, 72 broilers per treatment) was used to evaluate the effects of electrical (ES) and vacuum stunning (VS) on broiler breast meat quality. Electrical stunning was performed by applying 11.5 V, <0.05 mA, AC to DC current for 3 s for each broiler. Vacuum stunning was accomplished by exposing the birds to a low atmospheric pressure of 5...

BACKGROUND Acidosis during early reperfusion is reported to be beneficial for myocardial stunning. We tested in 31 dogs the hypothesis that staged reperfusion is beneficial to myocardial stunning. METHODS AND RESULTS Contractile dysfunction was observed 3 hours after the onset of reperfusion after 15 minutes of occlusion of the coronary artery. In the staged reperfusion, pH of the coronary ve...

Jt is now well established that myocardial dysfunction, once thought to be indicative of irreversible tissue damage, is in many cases reversible. This has led to the concepts of myocardial "stunning"1'2 and "hibernation."3 In both of these conditions, myocardial function is reversibly compromised; in stunning, myocardial function is decreased in response to a previous ischemic insult, and blood...