Protective actions of a stable prostacyclin analog in ischemia induced membrane damage in rat myocardium

Myocardial ischemia leads to the damage of cellular membranes and release of intracellular enzymes. We studied the influence of the prostacyclin analog, iloprost, on alterations in membrane phospholipid content and composition in rat myocardium during ischemia. Infusion of iloprost (100 ng/kg/min) or its vehicle started 20 min after coronary artery ligation, and the hearts were analyzed after 6 h. Myocardial creatine kinase activity was significantly reduced by approximately 25% in the ischemic areas of hearts from rats receiving vehicle. This reduction in myocardial creatine kinase activity was totally abolished by infusion of iloprost. Total phospholipid content was significantly reduced by 10% in ischemic areas of hearts obtained from vehicle infused animals. Iloprost infusion also prevented the loss of total phospholipids in the ischemic areas. The data show that coronary artery ligation is associated with a significant loss of total membrane phospholipids in ischemic regions of rat myocardium, characterized by significant decreases in phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and cardiolipin. The decrease in cardiac phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine content was prevented by iloprost, whereas the decrease in cardiolipin content was unaltered. Infusion of the prostacyclin analog iloprost almost totally inhibited the ischemia induced loss of phospholipids, suggesting that this may be an important component of its cytoprotective mechanism of action.