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Updated: May 28, 2026
Methods for the Determination of Rates of Glucose and Fatty Acid Oxidation in the Isolated Working Rat Heart
Published on: September 28, 2016
Gender-dependent metabolic remodeling during heart preservation in cardioplegic celsior and histidine buffer solution
Marco G Alves1, Pedro F Oliveira, Fátima O Martins
1Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Insights
Celsior (Cs) solution is more effective than histidine buffer solution (HBS) at preventing lactate production during heart preservation. However, HBS demonstrates better metabolic support for women's hearts, reducing extracellular acidification.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Science
- Metabolic Research
- Organ Preservation
Background:
- Understanding heart metabolism during preservation is critical for developing effective cardioplegic solutions.
- Current preservation solutions like Celsior (Cs) and histidine buffer solution (HBS) have different metabolic impacts.
- Gender-specific metabolic adaptations during ischemia are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate metabolic alterations in hearts preserved with Cs and HBS.
- To compare gender-specific metabolic adaptations during cold ischemia.
- To evaluate energy metabolism in male and female hearts over 6 hours of preservation.
Main Methods:
- Hearts from men and women were preserved for 6 hours in Cs or HBS at 4°C.
- Cardioplegic solution aliquots were collected throughout preservation.
- Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis was used to study energy metabolism.
Main Results:
- Histidine buffer solution (HBS)-preserved male hearts consumed glucose between 240-360 minutes; female hearts consumed glucose throughout 6 hours.
- Lactate production rates were higher in HBS-preserved hearts compared to Cs-preserved hearts.
- Celsior (Cs) was more effective in preventing lactate production and maintaining redox state, particularly in female hearts.
Conclusions:
- Glycolysis and lactate production are stimulated in HBS-preserved hearts.
- Celsior (Cs) solution is superior in limiting anaerobic metabolism during heart preservation.
- HBS offers benefits for female hearts, reducing extracellular acidification and improving metabolic byproduct recycling.
Abstract:
Understanding heart metabolism during preservation is crucial to develop new effective cardioplegic solutions. We aim to investigate metabolic alterations during heart preservation in the clinically used Celsior (Cs) and histidine buffer solution (HBS). We also focused in gender-specific metabolic adaptations during ischemia. We followed energy metabolism in hearts from men and women preserved during 6 hours in Cs and HBS. Hearts were subjected to cold ischemia (4°C) in Cs or HBS, and aliquots of the cardioplegic solution were collected throughout preservation for nuclear magnetic resonance analysis. HBS-preserved hearts from men consumed glucose mostly between 240 and 360 minutes, whereas HBS-preserved hearts from women consumed glucose throughout the 6 hours of ischemia. Lactate production rates followed approximately the glucose consumption rates in HBS-preserved hearts. The lactate to alanine ratio, an indicator of the redox state, was increased in HBS-preserved hearts when compared with Cs-preserved hearts. Hearts from men presented a higher redox state than those from women preserved in Cs after 300 minutes. Both Cs and HBS were capable of preventing acidification in hearts from women but not in hearts from men, which decreased the extracellular pH. HBS-preserved hearts from men and women produced 0.1 ± 0.01 and 0.15 ± 0.03 μmol·min(-1)·gdw(-1) of lactate, respectively. Those rates were significantly higher than in Cs-preserved hearts. Thus, Cs was more effective in preventing lactate production. We conclude that glycolysis and lactate production are stimulated in HBS-preserved hearts. HBS shows better overall results particularly in hearts from women, which presented less extracellular acidification and were more effective in recycling the metabolic subproducts.
