ABSTRACT
Studies of preconditioning frequently use the isolated rat heart model in which recovery of post-ischemic function is the end-point. However, function following an episode of ischemia/reperfusion represents a composite of both stunning, which is related to free radical production and is not attenuated by preconditioning, and tissue salvage, the primary effect of preconditioning. Brief ischemia/reperfusion is also known to diminish adenosine release during subsequent ischemia by a mechanism independent of preconditioning's anti-infarct effect. Reduced purine release would diminish generation of free radicals by xanthine oxidase in rat heart and thus produce less stunning. In this paradigm preserved post-ischemic function in rat heart might look similar to salvage by preconditioning, but its mechanism would be quite different and not be relevant to the xanthine oxidase-deficient human heart. This hypothesis was tested in isolated rat hearts. Control or ischemically preconditioned hearts were subjected to 30 min of global ischemia and 60 min of reperfusion, either in the presence or absence of 25 micromol/l allopurinol, an inhibitor of xanthine oxidase. In non-preconditioned hearts allopurinol increased left ventricular developed pressure after 60 min of reperfusion from 26 +/- 5 mmHg in control hearts to 47 +/- 7 mmHg, whereas developed pressure in preconditioned hearts following reperfusion was 59 +/- 5 mmHg and was unaffected by allopurinol. Developed pressure in non-preconditioned hearts treated with allopurinol was midway between that for untreated control and preconditioned hearts suggesting that at least 50% of the recovery of developed pressure in preconditioned hearts may be related to free radical-induced stunning. In xanthine oxidase-deficient rabbit hearts, return of function was not different between non-preconditioned and preconditioned hearts. Therefore, post-ischemic developed pressure in the rat is significantly affected by purine-dependent stunning, and, hence, may be an unreliable marker of tissue salvage and also a poor index of what might be cardioprotective in man.