Related Experiment Videos
Ischemic preconditioning enhances donor heart preservation
M Karck1, P Rahmanian, A Haverich
1Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Kiel, Germany.
Insights
Ischemic preconditioning enhances heart function recovery after cold storage, offering additive cardioprotection. This method improves myocardial preservation for heart transplantation, regardless of preservation solution used.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Transplantation Surgery
- Cardiovascular Research
Background:
- Myocardial preservation during heart transplantation is critical.
- Ischemic preconditioning's role in heart preservation is not fully understood.
- Evaluating adjuncts to hypothermic preservation is essential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate ischemic preconditioning as an adjunct to hypothermic myocardial preservation.
- To assess its efficacy with various preservation solutions.
- To determine its impact on post-ischemic cardiac function and injury.
Main Methods:
- Isolated working rat hearts were used.
- Ischemic preconditioning involved one cycle of 5 min ischemia/5 min reperfusion.
- Hearts underwent 10-hour hypothermic (4°C) global ischemia with different preservation methods.
- Functional recovery and creatine kinase leakage were measured.
Main Results:
- Ischemic preconditioning significantly improved post-ischemic aortic flow and left ventricular pressure recovery.
- Protection was additive to hypothermia-induced preservation.
- No significant difference in high-energy phosphate content was observed.
- Creatine kinase leakage was reduced by ischemic preconditioning.
Conclusions:
- Ischemic preconditioning improves contractile function after hypothermic global ischemia in rat hearts.
- This cardioprotective effect is additive to hypothermia.
- The benefit is independent of the preservation solution used, suggesting clinical relevance for heart transplantation.
Abstract:
Ischemic preconditioning has not been assessed in an experimental model for myocardial preservation during heart transplantation. Using isolated working rat hearts, ischemic preconditioning was investigated as an adjunct to isolated hypothermic (group 1), crystalloid (group 2: University of Wisconsin solution; group 3: St. Thomas' Hospital cardioplegic solution II; group 4: Bretschneiders' cardioplegic solution), and noncrystalloid (group 5: cold blood cardioplegia) preservation during a 10-hr period of global ischemia at 4 degrees C. After acquisition of functional baseline data, ischemic preconditioning was induced with one cycle of 5 min of normothermic ischemia and 5 min of reperfusion before induction of global hypothermic ischemia (n= 10/group). Nonpreconditioned hearts (n= 10/group) were assessed for control. Ischemic preconditioning improved postischemic: functional recovery. Thus, aortic flow after 60 min of reperfusion recovered to 0%, 8%, 0%, 1% and 0% in control groups 1 to 5 without ischemic preconditioning and 21%, 25%, 10%, 8%, and 3% in groups 1 to 5 with ischemic preconditioning. The same pattern of recovery was observed in regard to postischemic maximum developed left ventricular pressure, which recovered to 21%, 56%, 30%, 36%, and 19% in groups 1 to 5 without preconditioning and 46%, 75%, 49%, 40%, and 47% in the corresponding groups with ischemic preconditioning. High-energy phosphate contents were not significantly different between preconditioned hearts and corresponding nonpreconditioned control hearts. Creatine kinase leakage during early reperfusion was found to be reduced with ischemic preconditioning. Thus, we have demonstrated that ischemic preconditioning can improve contractile function after global hypothermic ischemia in the isolated rat heart and we have shown that this protection is additive to that of hypothermia-induced protection during global ischemia at 4 degrees C. This endogenous mechanism of cardioprotection was effective regardless of whether preservation was accomplished using cardioplegic solution or topical hypothermia alone. This may have clinical implications in myocardial preservation for heart transplantation.