The response to ischemia in blood perfused vs. crystalloid perfused isolated rat heart preparations

With a research hypothesis that the behavior of blood perfused hearts was different from that of crystalloid perfused hearts, we tested the null hypothesis that the functional and metabolic status of blood-perfused (paracorporeal oxygenation) and Krebs-Henseleit (bubble oxygenation) perfused Langendorff isolated rat hearts is the same before, during and after global myocardial ischemia. Thirty isolated rat hearts were studied under identical conditions except that in equal numbers they were randomly assigned to either blood or crystalloid perfusion. In the blood perfused and crystalloid perfused hearts subjected to 22 min of normothermic ischemia and 30 min of reperfusion, mean systolic recovery was 72 +/- 3.9% (S.E.) and 20 +/- 10% (P = 0.001), respectively; coronary resistance increased 21 +/- 16% and 158 +/- 27% (P = 0.0003) (unadjusted for viscosity); mean water content after reperfusion was 82.0 +/- 0.43% and 86.7 +/- 0.42% (P < 0.0001), ATP content was 8.4 +/- 1.9 and 4.3 +/- 0.5 mumol/g dry wt (P = 0.08), and energy charge was 0.74 +/- 0.114 and 0.59 +/- 0.048 (P = 0.3). A major qualitative difference during reperfusion was spontaneous relaxation of contracture and rapid resumption of sinus rhythm in blood perfused hearts, in contrast to continued contracture and rise in intraventricular pressure in 9 of 10 crystalloid perfused hearts. One crystalloid perfused heart did not develop contracture, and its phenomena during reperfusion were similar to those of blood perfused hearts. The data support the research hypothesis, and suggest caution in extrapolating to blood perfused systems inferences from crystalloid perfused models. Better preservation of reactive hyperemia early in reperfusion may explain the better performance of blood perfused hearts.