CARDIOMYOPLASTY - PRESERVATION OF THE LATISSIMUS-DORSI MUSCLE

Muscle necrosis has been frequently observed in cardiomyoplasty patien ts and in experimental animal studies. The purpose of this study was t o determine if heat shock could provide protection to skeletal muscle as has been shown in cardiac muscle. A 15-minute heat shock at 42-degr ees-C resulted in an immediate increase in HSP72 mRNA and was followed within 3 hours by a two-fold increase in HSP72. Surgical dissection o f the latissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) followed by an ischemic period res ulted in a two-fold increase in HSP72 in control LDM, whereas the alre ady high levels in the heat-shocked LDM increased only slightly with s urgery and ischemia. Citrate synthase activity and tissue histology in dicated that heat shock did not protect the LDM from the imposed surgi cal trauma and ischemic insults used in this study.