Acceleration of coronary collateral development by heparin in conscious dogs

We evaluated whether heparin pretreatment accelerates the development of coronary collateral vessels induced by repeated, brief coronary occlusions. Sixteen dogs were instrumented for the measurement of subendocardial segment length in the area perfused by the left circumflex coronary artery (LCCA), LCCA flow and left ventricular pressure. An externally inflatable pneumatic occluder was placed around the LCCA. Two min coronary occlusions (CO) at rest were repeated hourly until there was no reduction in ischemic segment systolic shortening at the end of CO and negligible reactive hyperemia following the release of CO. Eight control dogs developed collaterals sufficient for resting myocardial oxygen requirements in the LCCA region by 129 +/- 45 (SD) CO. The remaining 8 dogs given heparin daily developed collaterals by 81 +/- 33 CO (p less than 0.05). Thus, in the presence of severe myocardial ischemia known to promote collateralization, heparin accelerated the development of coronary collaterals.