Background

Myocardial injury after ischemia and reperfusion may be mediated, at least in part, by oxygen-derived free radicals; this supposition is supported by the observation that significant quantities of these radicals are generated during reperfusion. To directly assess the protective effect of extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD), this study was designed to investigate the ability of EC-SOD overexpression in the hearts of transgenic mice to protect myocardial tissue against ischemiareperfusion injury by use of an isolated work performing murine heart preparation and functional analysis.

Methods and results

Ten transgenic mice (EC. SOD, 28 to 31 g) were studied and compared with 10 control mice (Ctl, 28 to 31 g) in terms of preischemic and postischemic myocardial function. All hearts underwent cardiac harvest and arrest, followed by instrumentation and subsequent reperfusion with warm Krebs-Henseleit solution. Preload-dependent functional analysis was then performed to evaluate cardiac output, contractility (dP/dt), heart rate, stroke work, and stroke volume before and after a 7-minute period of warm ischemia. Results are expressed as mean+/-SEM (ANOVA, paired unpaired t tests). There was no significant difference in preischemic myocardial performance for Ctl and EC-SOD mice. After warm ischemia, cardiac output in EC-SOD was significantly improved compared with Ctl (EC-SOD, 4.55+/-0.37 mL/min; Ctl, 2.55+/-0.28 mL/min; P<. 05). Postischemic dP/dt, stroke work, and stroke volume were also significantly improved in EC-SOD compared with Ctl mice (EC-SOD, 1808+/-39 mm Hg/s, 745+/-67 dyne. cm, and 13.1+/-1.2 microL, respectively; Ctl, 1497+/-87 mm Hg/s, 472+/-83 dyne. cm, and 8.2+/-1.5 microL; P<. 05).

Conclusions

EC-SOD overexpressed mice showed significant improvement in postischemic cardiac function compared with Ctl mice. Thus, EC-SOD overexpressed hearts are less susceptible to mild degrees of ischemia-reperfusion injury than normal hearts.