Effect of propionyl-L-carnitine on experimental myocardial infarction in dogs

Limitation on infarct size, using propionyl-L-carnitine (Sigma-Tau) by itself and with the calcium entry blocker, tiapamil (Hoffmann-LaRoche), was evaluated in two groups of ten dogs each, during chronic (9 days) myocardial infarction. There were eight dogs that served as the control group. A closed-chest model was used to produce the thrombus by placing a helically shaped copper wire in the LAD by catheter technique, under x-ray visualization. Necrotic tissue in serial transventricular sections were delineated by triphenyltetrazolium chloride and measured by computer technique, using an IBM PC interfaced with a digitizing pad, 9 days following occlusion. The mean total amount of necrosis in the propionyl-L-carnitine (7.4%) and the propionyl-L-carnitine/tiapamil (6.7%) groups were significantly less (p less than .01) than found in the control (14.1%) group, reflecting a difference of 50 and 58%, respectively, between the treated groups and control. A number of significant between-group comparisons (p less than .05 to p less than .001), under the same conditions, were found for various ischemia, hemodynamic, and hematologic variables followed before and at 30, 60, 90, 120, and 180 minutes after occlusion, as well as on the second and ninth day. The results of this study strongly suggest that propionyl-L-carnitine and propionyl-L-carnitine with tiapamil has a protective effect on myocardial function, following thrombotic occlusion of the LAD, as well as limiting the resulting infarct size.