[Acute ischemic preconditioning protects against skeletal muscle infarction in the pig].

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to investigate metabolism of ischemic muscle and the efficacy of acute ischemic preconditioning for protection of skeletal muscles against infarction.

METHODS

The efficacy of preconditioning was tested by subjecting pig latissimus dorsi muscle to 3 cycles of ischemia reperfusion, each for 10 min, before 4 h of global ischemia. Infarction was assessed at 48 h reperfusion using nitroblue tetrazolium dye. Muscle biopsies were taken from the latissimus dorsi before ischemia, at the end of 2 and 4 h of ischemia and 1.5 h of reperfusion.

RESULTS

Preconditioning reduced the total infarct size by 44% in the latissimus dorsi. The muscle contents of ATP were maintained higher and the lactate lower (P < 0.05) in the preconditioned than in the non-preconditioned muscle at the end of 2 h, 4 h of ischemia and 1.5 h of reperfusion.

CONCLUSION

Preconditioning of pig skeletal muscle is associated with a lower energy metabolism during sustained ischemia. At the present time, it is not known if this energy sparing effect is a major mechanism of ischemia preconditioning against infarction in the skeletal muscle.