Concanavalin A, ribose, and adenine resuscitate preserved rat hearts

Preserved hearts may have cardiac dysfunction associated with inadequate myocardial high-energy phosphates. To resuscitate preserved hearts, hearts from male Wistar adult rats were preserved in 4.0 degrees C cold-modified Krebs-Henseleit buffer (pH 7.40) for 8 h, subjected to 30 min of reperfusion at 36.5 degrees C with the administration of concanavalin A (Con A; 40 mg/L), ribose (0.1 mM), and adenine (0.1 mM). In comparison with the normal control, the preserved group had a decrease in cardiac output (CO; p < 0.001), myocardial adenosine triphosphate (ATP; p < 0.001), and creatine phosphate (CP; p < 0.001), associated with an increase in myocardial Ca2+ (p < 0.01) and release of myocardial adenine nucleosides (ANs; p < 0.001). In comparison with the preserved group, the group reperfused with ribose and adenine had no improvement of these parameters (p > 0.05). The group reperfused with Con A had an increase in CO (p < 0.01) and myocardial CP (p < 0.01), associated with a decrease in myocardial Ca2+ (p < 0.05) and ANs release (p < 0.01), and no change in myocardial ATP. However, the group reperfused with Con A, ribose, and adenine achieved a significant increase in CO (p < 0.005), ATP (p < 0.005), CP (p < 0.005), and a decrease in myocardial Ca2+ (p < 0.01) and ANs release (p < 0.01). Data suggest that the combination of Con A, ribose, and adenine may resuscitate cold-preserved rat hearts.