Background: Graft dysfunction following transplantation is due to ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) has been shown to attenuate ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury in animals. We designed this experiment to evaluate the effects of BNP pretreatment on IR-induced heart injury.
Methods: A rat model of myocardial IR injury was established by ligating the left descending coronary artery for 30 minutes before a 2-hour reperfusion. We randomly divided 47 Sprague-Dawley rats into six groups: sham operation (n = 6), IR (n = 9), IR + BNP 0.001 μg/(kg·min; n = 8); IR + BNP 0.005 μg/(kg·min; n = 8); IR + BNP 0.01 μg/(kg·min; n = 8); and IR + BNP 0.03 μg/(kg·min; n = 8). During the processes, lead ECG was traced continuously to note arrhythmias caused by reperfusion. Serum levels of creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were measured at 2 hours after reperfusion.
Results: The BNP-treated animals showed a significantly reduced incidence of ventricular arrhythmias caused by reperfusion (P < .05). They showed a dosage-dependent marked decrease in levels of serum CK-MB and LDH compared with the IR only group (P < .05).
Conclusions: BNP pretreatment protected the myocardium of rats against IR injury, in a dose-dependent manner.
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