Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with chronic stable coronary artery disease (CAD) has not yet been proven to reduce the incidence of myocardial infarction or death. The outcome after PCI is, however, dependent on the amount of myocardial ischaemia, which is—among others—influenced by the tightness and proximity of the coronary atherosclerotic lesion. Invasive ischaemia test...

Cardiac mitochondria may become dysfunctional during ischaemia, thus compromising cardiomyocyte function. Carvedilol is an alpha(1)/beta-adrenoceptor antagonist with antioxidant, neuroprotective, cardioprotective and vascularprotective properties, and is used to treat hypertension, myocardial ischaemia and congestive heart failure. However, its impact on mitochondrial function during acute prol...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are key receptors of the innate immune system which are expressed on immune and nonimmune cells. They are activated by both pathogen-associated molecular patterns and endogenous ligands. Activation of TLRs culminates in the release of proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and apoptosis. Ischaemia and ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury are associated with significant ...

Objective To investigate the protective effects of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a major polyphenol source in green tea, against hepatic ischaemia-reperfusion injury in mice. Methods The partial hepatic ischaemia-reperfusion injury model was created by employing the hanging-weight method in C57BL/6 male mice. EGCG (50 mg/kg) was administered via an intraperitoneal injection 45 min before p...

OBJECTIVE Mesenteric arteries release C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP), which hyperpolarises vascular smooth muscle. We measured the levels of this peptide after inducing mesenteric ischaemia over a series of time intervals, so as to determine its predictive value in demonstrating the severity of ischaemia in a rat model. METHODS A total of 32 rats were allocated to four groups containing eig...

BACKGROUND B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and the inactive amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP) have a prognostic value in heart failure and in myocardial infarction. There has been some evidence that BNP and NT-proBNP can be used in the diagnosis of myocardial ischaemia by improving the sensitivity of exercise- stress testing. OBJECTIVE To observe the relationship betwe...

Although Mg2+ reduces infarct size in whole heart models of ischaemia/reperfusion, the cardioprotective effect of Mg2+ at the cellular level is still a controversial issue. Therefore, we tested whether Mg2+ protects cardiomyocytes against ischaemia. To accomplish this aim we used an experimental model of ischaemia that utilises single beating adult cardiomyocytes in which oxygen tension is tigh...

Ketamine is a dissociative anaesthetic known to be an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor blocker. Since the NMDA excitatory receptor on neurones is implicated in ischaemic neuronal necrosis, ketamine might be expected to have a beneficial effect in cerebral hypoxia-ischaemia. Ketamine was tested in a rat model of forebrain ischaemia allowing 7 days recovery. Ketamine 6 mg kg-1 i.v. was administered ...

OBJECTIVES The present study addresses whether the mechanism of anti-arrhythmic protection by ischaemic preconditioning involves depletion of myocardial catecholamines. METHODS In a randomised series of studies isolated rat hearts, perfused with whole blood, underwent episodes of regional ischaemia and reperfusion induced with a snare around the left coronary artery. Control hearts (Group 1, ...

Gender differences in both vulnerability to stroke and outcome following cerebral ischaemia have frequently been observed and attributed to the action of steroid hormones. Progesterone is a candidate neuroprotective factor for stroke; however, studies are lacking which: (i) study those groups representing high risk i.e. postmenopausal females; (ii) administer progesterone solely post-ischaemia;...