The effects of normovolemic hemodilution with dextran-40 on acute myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in rabbits.

The effects of decreasing blood viscosity by normovolemic hemodilution with dextran-40 or normal saline (NS) on myocardial lipid peroxides, superoxide dismutase, infarct size and left ventricular function during acute myocardial ischemia/reperfusion were studied in rabbits. It was found that normovolemic hemodilution with dextran-40 could decrease the content of ischemic myocardial malondialdehyde and preserve ischemic myocardial superoxide dismutase activity after 1 h of coronary occlusion followed by 1 h of reperfusion. However, after administration of NS only a tendency in this aspect exhibited without statistical significance. Besides, hemodilution with dextran-40 reduced infarct size and improved left ventricular systolic function after 1 h of ischemia followed by 23 h of reperfusion. These results suggest that normovolemic hemodilution with dextran-40 may have anti-injury effect on acute myocardial ischemia/reperfusion to a certain degree.