Role of intracellular antioxidant enzymes after in vivo myocardial ischemia and reperfusion.

Reactive oxygen species induce myocardial damage after ischemia and reperfusion in experimental animal models. Numerous studies have investigated the deleterious effects of ischemia-reperfusion (I/R)-induced oxidant production using various pharmacological interventions. More recently, in vitro studies have incorporated gene-targeted mice to decipher the role of antioxidant enzymes in myocardial reperfusion injury.

Direct vascular and cardioprotective effects of rosuvastatin, a new HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor.

Objective: We examined the possible effects of a novel 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitor, rosuvastatin, on endothelial nitric oxide (NO) production and myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Background: Recent studies suggest that HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors promote vascular endothelial function through enhanced endothelial NO production. However, it is unclear whether all statins share this beneficial side effect or whether this effect is limited to the "natural" statins.

Differential response to myocardial reperfusion injury in eNOS-deficient mice.

Two strains of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS)-deficient (-/-) mice have been developed that respond differently to myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (MI/R). We evaluated both strains of eNOS(-/-) mice in an in vivo model of MI/R. Harvard (Har) eNOS(-/-) mice (n = 12) experienced an 84% increase in myocardial necrosis compared with wild-type controls (P < 0.