Does allopurinol prevent myocardial injury as a result of hypoxia-re-oxygenation in rats?

We made use of the xanthine oxidase inhibitor allopurinol and examined changes related to myocardial injury of the rat heart during hypoxia-re-oxygenation. The rat heart was perfused using the Langendorff method. With low-oxygen perfusion for 60 min in a solution saturated with mixed gases of 95% N2 + 5%O2, contractile tension did not develop and tension development was not restored upon re-oxygenation. During hypoxia, the resting tension increased (4.1 g) in the absence of allopurinol. In the allopurinol-administered group (100 microM), contractile tension did not develop during hypoxia; however, the development of tension was restored (18%) upon re-oxygenation. The elevation of resting tension was less (3.2 g) during hypoxia. All events related to the myocardial injury (inhibition of Na+, K(+)-ATPase activities, generation of malondialdehyde, extracellular leakage of creatine kinase) after low-oxygen perfusion for 60 min and re-oxygenating perfusion for 30 min were mild in the allopurinol treated group, compared with findings in the non-administered group. Tissue ATP at 10 min after low-oxygen perfusion was of a significantly high value in the allopurinol treated group (13.2 mumols/g dry weight), compared with findings in the group not given the drug (8.4 mumol/g dry weight). Sixty minutes after low-oxygen perfusion, tissue ATP in the allopurinol group also remained high, compared with the group not given the drug. Although the intensity of the epicardial NADH fluorescence indicated that the extent of inhibition of aerobic energy production during 10 min of low-oxygen perfusion was the same for both groups, lactate was produced in large quantities in the allopurinol treated group, hence energy generation advanced with glycolysis. These observations suggest that allopurinol prevents myocardial injury as a result of hypoxia-re-oxygenation. In the low-oxygen perfusion period, generation of energy is maintained and improved with glycolysis and there is a reduction in the generation of free radicals and an inhibition in lipid peroxidation.