1. This study examined the effects of altering nitric oxide levels with sodium nitroprusside or L-arginine in rat hearts stored hypothermically. 2. Hearts were microperfused at 4 °C for 24 h with a modified Krebs–Henseleit buffer (KHB) that contained either sodium nitroprusside, L-arginine, L-arginine methyl ester or dexamethasone. 3. After hypothermic storage, hearts were rewarmed to 37 °C wit...

BACKGROUND Noninvasive imaging of cardiac activation before ablation of the arrhythmogenic substrate can reduce electrophysiological procedure duration and help choosing between an endocardial or epicardial approach. A noninvasive imaging technique was evaluated that estimates both endocardial and epicardial activation from body surface potential maps. We performed a study in isolated and in si...

AIM We studied whether available oxygen without induced mechanical stretch regulates the release of the biologically active B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) from Langendorff heart. METHODS Rat hearts were isolated and perfused with a physiological Krebs-Henseleit solution at a constant hydrostatic pressure in Langendorff set-up. The basal O2 level of perfusate (24.4 ± 0.04 mg L-1 ) was gradua...

Sarcomere length (SL) is an important determinant and indicator of cardiac mechanical function; however, techniques for measuring SL in living, intact tissue are limited. Here, we present a technique that uses two-photon microscopy to directly image striations of living cells in cardioplegic conditions, both in situ (Langendorff-perfused rat hearts and ventricular tissue slices, stained with th...

BACKGROUND Recent studies suggest that gene therapy using replication-deficient adenoviruses will benefit treatment of cardiovascular diseases including heart failure. A persistent hurdle is the effective and reproducible delivery of a transgene to the myocardium with minimal iatrogenic morbidity. In this study, we sought to design a relatively non-invasive percutaneous gene delivery system tha...

OBJECTIVE A brief period of ischaemia (5 min) and reperfusion (5 min), prior to a longer period of ischaemia and reperfusion, has been shown to reduce the extent of injury (necrosis, arrhythmias, or postischaemic contractile malfunction) caused by a subsequent longer period of ischaemia and reperfusion. Adenosine has been identified as a factor in the protection afforded against regional tissue...

OBJECTIVES Activated protein C (APC) has a protective efficacy against ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in several organs. The objective of this study was to investigate effect of APC in myocardium with possible mechanism. METHODS We used regional and global myocardial I/R injury models of rats. They consisted of I/R injuries (1) by ligation of left coronary artery, or (2) using Langendorff ...