Pathophysiological Behavior of the Myocardium in Acute Ischemia and Reperfusion, with Special Emphasis on the Sarcoplasmic Reticulum

Abstract

The myocardium under severe ischemia and reperfusion exhibits four types of different pathophysiologic behaviors: coagulation necrosis, stunning, ischemic preconditioning, and reperfusion injury. This chapter describes these changes in the postischemic myocardium in relation to the length of ischemia. Canine hearts were made ischemic by occludmg the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD), and the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) from the ischemia-reperfused myocardium was analyzed. In permanent occlusion of the LAD, Ca²⁺-ATPase activity of the SR was reduced simultaneously with the degradation of the major ATPase protein in ischemia for 20 to 30 minutes. In the stunned myocardium, with occlusion of the LAD for 15 minutes and reperfusion, long-term reduction in the activity of the SR was noted simultaneously with a reduction in the percent of segment shortening, but without degradation of the ATPase protein of the SR. In the preconditioned myocardium, in which the LAD was occluded four times for five minutes each prior to LAD occlusion for 60 minutes and reperfusion, both ATPase activity and the SR ATPase protein were preserved In reperfusion of the LAD after occlusion for 10 to 30 minutes, reduction in Ca²⁺-ATPase activity and degradation of the ATPase protein occurred earlier, simultaneously with generation of free radicals, suggesting reperfusion injury. We conclude that pathophysiologic behaviors of the postischemic myocardium proceed in quite different ways depending upon the length of ischemia and will only be fully understood in the light of studies on ischemia and reperfusion of the heart muscle.