Preconditioning with hypoxia versus global ischemia in the isolated rat heart: effect on function and metabolism

It has recently been shown that hypoxia and ischemia are equally effective to precondition the myocardium of the rat. A comparison of the metabolic changes caused by transient ischemia and hypoxia has not yet been made and may help to elucidate the metabolic factors involved in eliciting preconditioning. The aim of this study was to compare the changes in tissue high energy phosphates, glycogen and lactate during and after hypoxic and ischemic preconditioning in isolated perfused rat hearts. Isolated rat hearts were subjected to global ischemia of 30 minutes duration, with and without preconditioning consisting of a single episode of 5 minutes global ischemia or hypoxia (PO2 = 12kPa). The post-ischemic recovery of aortic flow of the nonpreconditioned group was significantly less than that of the two preconditioned groups: 0.5 +/- 0.5 ml/min vs. 23.3 +/- 3.4 and 20.7 +/- 3.6 ml/min for ischemic and hypoxic preconditioning respectively. The only common metabolic factor between the two preconditioned groups was the similar extent of glycogenolysis after transient ischemia or hypoxia: glycogen decreased from 22 +/- 0.8 in non-preconditioned hearts to 16 +/- 0.5 and 16 +/- 1.5 mumoles glucose per g wet tissue in ischemic and hypoxic preconditioned hearts respectively. There was also no difference in lactate production between the two groups during the sustained episode of ischemia. We conclude that oxygen deprivation, rather than other metabolic factors, is the important factor in eliciting preconditioning.