BACKGROUND Poor myocardial tolerance to prolonged cold ischemia remains a major concern in heart transplantation. In this study, we estimated superiority of Histidine-Tryptophan-Ketoglutarate (HTK) over University of Wisconsin (UW) as a cardiac preservation solution. METHODS Isolated rat hearts were mounted on a Langendorff apparatus to estimate the baseline cardiac function. The hearts were ...

BACKGROUND It has recently been shown that tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), an essential cofactor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), reduces ischemia-reperfusion myocardial injury. The aim of this study was to determine if supplementation with BH4 after cardiac arrest followed by cold heart preservation would exert a cardioprotective effect against ischemia-reperfusion injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS Is...

We recently succeeded in resuscitating an extracted rat heart following 24-48 hours of preservation in a high-pressure gaseous mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen (O2). This study aimed to examine the function of rat hearts transplanted after being preserved in the high-pressure CO and O2 gas mixture. The hearts of donor rats were preserved in a chamber filled with CO and O2 under high p...

Left ventricular function and exercise capacity were assessed in 79 patients randomised to receive intravenous and oral propranolol (n = 44) or conventional therapy (n = 35) within four hours of onset of their first myocardial infarction. Cineangiocardiography and exercise testing were performed four weeks after infarction to allow for maximum recovery of myocardial function. Left ventriculogra...

Cardiac surgery has been a vibrant field since the early pioneering procedures were attempted, became successful, and eventually reproducible. From the successful closure of a patent ductus arteriosus in 1938 and the Blalock-Taussig shunt, discovery and innovation have been the hallmarks of cardiac surgery. Dr John Gibbon’s first clinical use of the heart lung machine in 1953 opened the door to...

The objective of the study aims to evaluate the combined protective effects of coenzyme Q10 and magnesium sulphate on isoproterenol induced myocardial damage in rats. CoenzymeQ10 (50 mg/kg) and magnesium sulphate (10 mg/kg) were administered orally to wistar rats in individual or in combination for 30 days.  At the end of this period, rats were administered isoproterenol (85 mg/kg i.p.) intrape...

Background. Myocardial ischemia followed by reperfusion results in endothelial dysfunction characterized by a reduced release of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF). Because EDRF has been characterized as nitric oxide, we examined the ability of L-arginine, the substrate for nitric oxide synthesis, to protect in a feline model of myocardial ischemia plus reperfusion. Methods and Results....

Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) has been reported to be involved in the myocardial self-preservation system. To obtain the evidence that HSP70 plays a direct role in the protection from myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, rat hearts were transfected with human HSP70 gene by intracoronary infusion of hemagglutinating virus of Japan (HVJ)-liposome containing human HSP70 gene. The control hearts...