ATP production rate via creatine kinase or ATP synthase in vivo: a novel superfast magnetization saturation transfer method.

Rationale: ³¹P magnetization saturation transfer (MST) experiment is the most widely used method to study ATP metabolism kinetics. However, its lengthy data acquisition time greatly limits the wide biomedical applications in vivo, especially for studies requiring high spatial and temporal resolutions.

Objective: We aimed to develop a novel superfast MST method that can accurately quantify ATP production rate constants (k(f)) through creatine kinase (CK) or ATP synthase (ATPase) with 2 spectra.

Intermittent antegrade cardioplegia: isolated heart preservation with the Asporto heart preservation device.

Background: A major problem in procurement of donor hearts is the limited time a donor heart remains viable. After cardiectomy, ischemic hypoxia is the main cause of donor heart degradation. The global myocardial ischemia causes a cascade of oxygen radical formation that cumulates in an elevation in hydrogen ions (decrease in pH), irreversible cellular injury, and potential microvascular changes in perfusion.