Studies of hypoxemic/reoxygenation injury: without aortic clamping. VIII. Counteraction of oxidant damage by exogenous glutamate and aspartate.

Previous studies show that (1) hypoxemia depletes immature myocardium of amino acid substrates and their replenishment improves ischemic tolerance, (2) reoxygenation on cardiopulmonary bypass causes oxygen-mediated damage without added ischemia, and (3) this damage may be related to the nitric oxide-L-arginine pathway that is affected by amino acid metabolism. This study tests the hypothesis that priming the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit with glutamate and aspartate limits reoxygenation damage. Of 22 immature Duroc-Yorkshire piglets (< 3 weeks old), five were observed over a 5-hour period (control), and five others underwent 30 minutes of CPB without hypoxemia (cardiopulmonary bypass control). Twelve others became hypoxemic by reducing ventilator inspired oxygen fraction to 6% to 7% (oxygen tension about 25 mm Hg) before reoxygenation on cardiopulmonary bypass for 30 minutes. Of these five were untreated (no treatment), and the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit was primed with 5 mmol/L glutamate and aspartate in seven others (treatment). Left ventricular function before and after bypass was measured by inscribing pressure-volume loops (end-systolic elastance). Myocardial conjugated diene levels were measured to detect lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant reserve capacity was tested by incubating cardiac muscle with the oxidant t-butylhydroperoxide to determine the susceptibility to subsequent oxidant injury. CPB (no hypoxemia) allowed complete functional recovery without changing conjugated dienes and antioxidant reserve capacity, whereas reoxygenation injury developed in untreated hearts. This was characterized by reduced contractility (elastance end-systolic recovered only 37% +/- 8%), increased conjugated diene levels (1.3 +/- 0.1 vs 0.7 +/- 0.1), and decreased antioxidant reserve capacity (910 +/- 59 vs 471 +/- 30 malondialdehyde nmol/g protein at 2 mmol/L t-butylhydroperoxide*). In contrast, priming the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit with glutamate and aspartate resulted in significantly better left ventricular functional recovery (75% +/- 8% vs 37% +/- 8%), minimal conjugated diene production (0.8 +/- 0.1 vs 1.3 +/- 0.1), and improved antioxidant reserve capacity (726 +/- 27 vs 910 +/- 59 malondialdehyde nmol/g protein*) (*p < 0.05 vs cardiopulmonary bypass control). We conclude that reoxygenation of immature hypoxemic piglets by the initiation of cardiopulmonary bypass causes myocardial dysfunction, lipid peroxidation, and reduced tolerance to oxidant stress, which may increase vulnerability to subsequent ischemia (i.e., aortic crossclamping). These data suggest that supplementing the prime of cardiopulmonary bypass circuit with glutamate and aspartate may reduce these deleterious consequences of reoxygenation.