(melle-4)cyclosporin and Coronary-Disease

Brief periods of ischemia performed just at the time of reperfusion can reduce infarct size, a phenomenon called "postconditioning." After reflow, opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) has been involved in lethal reperfusion injury. We hypothesized that postconditioning may modulate mPTP opening.. Anesthetized open-chest rabbits underwent 30 minutes of ischemia and 4 hours of reperfusion. Control hearts underwent no additional intervention. Postconditioning consisted of 4 episodes of 1 minute of coronary occlusion and 1 minute of reperfusion performed after 1 minute of reflow after the prolonged ischemia. Preconditioning consisted of 5 minutes of ischemia and 5 minutes of reperfusion before the 30-minute ischemia. An additional group of rabbits received 5 mg/kg IV of NIM811, a specific inhibitor of the mPTP, 1 minute before reperfusion. Infarct size was assessed by triphenyltetrazolium staining. Mitochondria were isolated from the risk region myocardium, and Ca2+-induced mPTP opening was assessed by use of a potentiometric method. Postconditioning, preconditioning, and NIM811 significantly limited infarct size, which averaged 29+/-4%, 18+/-4%, and 20+/-4% of the risk region, respectively, versus 61+/-6% in controls (P< or =0.001 versus control). The Ca2+ load required to open the mPTP averaged 41+/-4, 47+/-5, and 67+/-9 micromol/L CaCl2 per mg of mitochondrial proteins in postconditioning, preconditioning, and NIM811, respectively, significantly higher than the value of 16+/-4 micromol/L per mg in controls (P< or =0.05).. Postconditioning inhibits opening of the mPTP and provides a powerful antiischemic protection.

Topics: Animals; Apoptosis; Calcium; Coronary Disease; Cyclosporine; Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases; Ion Channel Gating; Ion Channels; Ion Transport; Male; MAP Kinase Signaling System; Membrane Potentials; Mitochondria, Heart; Mitochondrial Membrane Transport Proteins; Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore; Myocardial Infarction; Myocardial Ischemia; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury; Necrosis; Oxidative Stress; Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; Proto-Oncogene Proteins; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; Rabbits; Random Allocation; Time Factors