Trehalose preconditioning for transient global myocardial ischemia in rats

Autophagy is an intracellular pathway that degrades unnecessary proteins and organelles and provides energy substrates during cellular ischemic conditions. Although pharmacological myocardial preconditioning with an autophagy inducer has been reported to protect cells against ischemic reperfusion (I/R), the effects of preconditioning using naturally occurring substances are still unknown. We aimed to examine whether autophagic preconditioning with trehalose improves cardiac function after myocardial stunning by global ischemia in rats. Rat hearts were perfused by oxygenized Krebs Henseleit (KH) solution in Langendorff system. Ten rats were randomized into the following two groups according to the perfusates during the preconditioning: control (KH solution only, n = 5) and trehalose (KH + 2% trehalose, n = 5). After the 35-min preconditioning period and subsequent 20 min of global ischemia, the hearts were reperfused for 60 min. Cardiac function was assessed during the reperfusion. To evaluate autophagy, myocardial protein expression of microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3) II was evaluated by western blotting. During I/R, a systolic functional parameter, maximum dP/dt was significantly higher; meanwhile, coronary flow tended to be higher in the trehalose group than in the control group. Myocardial LC3-II expression after preconditioning was higher in the trehalose group than in the control group and decreased to the control level after I/R. In conclusion, in a rat model of global myocardial ischemia, trehalose preconditioning improved cardiac function during I/R. Further studies would be needed to identify the mechanism and effects of trehalose preconditioning.