RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of pretreatment with captopril on myocardium ischemia-reperfusion injury in atherosclerotic rabbits. METHODS: Thirty-two New Zealand white rabbits were assigned randomly to the normally feed group, cholesterol-feed (CF) group, and cholesterol food plus captopril group (cap-feed group), which were fed for 10 weeks. We examined the changes in the size of the infarct and changes in the myocardium ultrastructure resulting from coronary ischemia/reperfusion. Levels of endothelin (ET) and nitic oxide (NO) were measured in the different experiment stages. RESULTS: The ET levels significantly increased and the content of NO significantly decreased in the CF group compared with those of the cap-feed group. The ultrastructure of myocardium cell was slightly destroyed and the infarct size was significantly smaller in the cap-feed group than the normally feed rabbits and CF rabbits. CONCLUSION: The long-term captopril treatment can lighten the severity of myocardial injury produced by coronary ischemia/reperfusion.