CARDIAC GENE-EXPRESSION FOLLOWING SHORT C ORONARY OCCLUSIONS

In the pig short coronary occlusions induce molecular damage on the pr otein level in the myocardium, which elicit repair mechanisms by incre ased transcription and translation, including the activation of potent ial transcription factors (protooncogenes), genes involved in repair p rocesses (heat shock genes) or calcium-binding genes. Additionally, so me growth factors like insulin-like growth factor II show increased tr anscription in accordance with their function as trophic factors for r eversibly injured myocardium. Changes in mRNA levels mostly are due to increased transcription rates and rarely due to prolonged half-life o f the mRNA. However, at present our data do not allow us to to conclud e which genes are causative for myocardial stunning and/or ischemic pr econditioning.