Effects of antioxidant therapy in experimentally induced heart infarcts

Experiments were performed on dog hearts following coronary ligation and treatment with synthetic antioxidant of dihydroquinoline type. Experimental groups were: control dogs, dogs with ligation of descendens anterior coronary branch, coronary ligated dogs with antioxidant pretreatment and dogs with coronary ligation and simultaneous antioxidant infusion therapy. The heart infarction per se is accompanied by the disintegration of membrane polyunsaturated fatty acids expressed by increase of malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration and the impairment of natural scavenging characterized by the decrease of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reduced glutathione (GSH) content. The oral pretreatment with antioxidant for 8 days prevented or decreased the unfavourable pathobiochemical responses. The acute infusion therapy exerted no immediate protection, nonetheless, it could decrease the severity of pathological signs.