visualization and quantification of experimental myocardial infarction by indocyanine green fluorescence imaging.

The fluorophore indocyanine green accumulates in areas of ischemia-reperfusion injury due to an increase in vascular permeability and extravasation of the dye. The aim of the study was to validate an indocyanine green-based technique of in vivo visualization of myocardial infarction. A further aim was to quantify infarct size ex vivo and compare this technique with the standard triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining.

New technique of local ischemic preconditioning induction without repetitive aortic cross-clamping in cardiac surgery.

Background: Several studies have demonstrated that local ischemic preconditioning can reduce myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in cardiac surgery patients; however, preconditioning has not become a standard cardioprotective intervention, primarily because of the increased risk of atheroembolism during repetitive aortic cross-clamping. In the present study, we aimed to describe and validate a novel technique of preconditioning induction.

Methods: Patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (12 women and 78 men; mean age, 56 ± 11 years) were randomized into 3 groups: (1) Controls (n = 30), (2) Perfusion (n = 30), and (3) Preconditioning (n = 30).

Autofluorescence spectroscopy for NADH and flavoproteins redox state monitoring in the isolated rat heart subjected to ischemia-reperfusion.

Background: Reduction of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in the patients undergoing cardiac surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass represents an important goal. Intraoperative monitoring of myocardial metabolic state using continuous registration of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) fluorescence might contribute to the solution of the problem. The successful application of fluorescent spectroscopy in the clinical field requires additional refinement of the technique, particularly using excitation of both NADH and FAD with different wavelengths.

Intestinal injury can be reduced by intra-arterial postischemic perfusion with hypertonic saline.

Aim: To investigate the effect of local intestinal perfusion with hypertonic saline (HTS) on intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) in both ex vivo and in vivo rat models.

Methods: All experiments were performed on male Wistar rats anesthetized with pentobarbital sodium given intraperitoneally at a dose of 60 mg/kg. Ex vivo vascularly perfused rat intestine was subjected to 60-min ischemia and either 30-min reperfusion with isotonic buffer (controls), or 5 min with HTS of 365 or 415 mOsm/L osmolarity (HTS(365mOsm) or HTS(415mOsm), respectively) followed by 25-min reperfusion with isotonic buffer.

Characteristics of cerebral ischemia in major rat stroke models of middle cerebral artery ligation through craniectomy.

Background: The refinement of experimental stroke models is important for further development of neuroprotective interventions.

Aims And/or Hypothesis: Our goal was to study the reproducibility of outcomes obtained in five rat models of middle cerebral artery (MCA) ligation in order to identify the optimal model for the preclinical studies.

Methods: In Part 1 of the experiments, systolic blood flow velocity (sBFV) and cerebral area at risk (AR) were determined immediately after the onset of brain ischemia induced in different ways in Wistar rats.

L-theanine administration results in neuroprotection and prevents glutamate receptor agonist-mediated injury in the rat model of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion.

While the neuroprotective effect of green tea (Camellia sinensis) might be explained by the presence of amino acid L-theanine in the tea leaves, it is not known whether postischemic administration of L-theanine could also provide neuroprotection. In the present study, we investigated the neuroprotective effect of L-theanine (1 and 4 mg/kg) administered at 3, 12, and 24 h after reperfusion in the rat model of stroke. We also studied the effect of L-theanine on brain injury caused by exogenous administration of N-methyl-D-aspartate and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-isoxazole-4-propionate/kainate receptor agonists during reperfusion.

Reduction of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury with pre- and postconditioning: molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targets.

Reduction of infarct size as well as alleviation of other ischemia- and reperfusion-associated injuries are the goals of primary importance in cardiology. One of the remedies is considered to be myocardial preconditioning (PreCon) referred usually to as an increased myocardial tolerance to prolonged ischemia following brief ischemic or non-ischemic challenge. In this review, PreCon stimuli tested to date are considered including a number of mildly noxious factors applied either locally to the myocardium or systemically.

Ischemic postconditioning: brief ischemia during reperfusion converts persistent ventricular fibrillation into regular rhythm.

Objectives: Brief episodes of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion employed during reperfusion after a prolonged ischemic insult may attenuate the total ischemia-reperfusion injury. This phenomenon has been termed ischemic postconditioning. In the present study, we studied the possible effect of postconditioning on persistent reperfusion-induced ventricular fibrillation (VF) in the isolated rat heart model.