Effects of non-invasive remote ischemic conditioning on rehabilitation after myocardial infarction

Recent studies have demonstrated that remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) creates cardioprotection against ischemia/reperfusion injury and myocardial infarction (MI); however, the effects of non-invasive remote ischemic conditioning (nRIC) on prognosis and rehabilitation after MI (post-MI) remain unknown. We successfully established MI models involving healthy adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. The nRIC group repeatedly underwent 5 min of ischemia and 5 min of reperfusion in the left hind limb for three cycles every other day until weeks 4, 6, and 8 after MI. nRIC improved cardiac hemodynamic function and mitochondrial respiratory function through increasing myocardial levels of mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes I, II, III, IV, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and decreasing the activity of nitric oxide synthase (NOS). nRIC could inhibit cardiomyocytes apoptosis and reduce myocardium injury through raising the expression of Bcl-2 and reduced the content of creatine kinase-MB, cardiac troponin I and Bax. The results indicated that long-term nRIC could accelerate recovery and improve prognosis and rehabilitation in post-MI rats.