RATIONALE Mitochondrial-bound hexokinase II (HK2) was recently proposed to play a crucial role in the normal functioning of the beating heart and to be necessary to maintain mitochondrial membrane potential. However, our own studies confirmed that mitochondria from ischemic rat hearts were HK2-depleted, yet showed no indication of depolarization and responded normally to ADP. OBJECTIVE To est...

BACKGROUND The Langendorff perfused heart is a physiologically relevant and controllable model with potential for assessing the pharmacokinetics of new radiotracers under a range of pathophysiological conditions.. We assess the feasibility of extending the methods validated for in vivo PET data analysis to the characterisation of PET tracer kinetics applied to Langendorff perfused hearts. MET...

Traditional working heart preparations, based on the original Langendorff setup, are widely used experimental models that have tremendously advanced the cardiovascular field. However, these systems can be deceivingly complex, requiring the maintenance of pH with CO(2), the delivery of oxygenated perfusate, and the need for extensive laboratory equipment. We have examined the feasibility of usin...

Background. Cooling has emerged as a therapeutic option in critically ill patients (especially after cardiac resuscitation) and might also have a negative dromotropic effect in atrial fibrillation. We sought to determine the impact of cooling on electrophysiologic properties of Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts. Methods and Results. In 20 isolated Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts, the temper...

background : envenomation by hemiscorpius lepturus is not painful and the clinical manifestations include bloody urine due to hemoglobinuria or hematuria, dermonecrotic reactions,cardiac arrhythmia and in minority of cases acute renal failure which may lead to death following disseminated intravascular coagulation in infants. cardiac effects of envenomation by h. lepturus venom including inotro...