[Recovery of the mammalian heart contractions after their arrest from cooling]

The first part of this review devotes (A) to mechanisms of cold arrest of isolated heart (rapid cooling), (B) to mechanisms of loss of heart work capacity during long hypothermia and B) to methods of recovery of the work of isolated heart (perfusion by warm oxygenated perfusat, and as well as on low temperatures by means of low [K+] in perfusate, by norepinephrine's stimulation, by electric impulses etc.). Protection of the heart damaging by long hypothermia achived usually by chemical cardioplegia (e.g. by increased [K+] in perfusate). Second part of review devotes to mechanisms of heart damage when cooling below 0 degrees C. Necessary condition of the protection of heart from freezing (ice crystals formation in the heart tissue) is saturating of the heart tissue by crioprotectors (glycerol, dimethilsulfoxide etc.), what prevent to ice crystallization. Cooling to -25 degrees C conducted successfully. Cooling to temperature of liquid nitrogen boiling (-196 degrees) for the present not lead to well reproducible recovery of the heart contractions. Closing part of the review devotes to recovery of the heart, arrested in situ (when hypothermia of the whole organism). Successfully recovered heart contractions and life of the whole organism with local heating of the heart and artificial breathing.