LONG-TERM PRESERVATION OF THE RAT ISOLATED HEART WITH STAUROSPORINE AND 2,3-BUTANEDIONE MONOXIME

The present study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of sta urosporine and 2,3-butanedione monoxime (BDM) in preserving cardiac fu nction of long-term hypothermic-stored hearts. Rat isolated hearts wer e perfused very slowly at 4 degrees C for 16 hr with a storage buffer solution containing staurosporine and BDM. Heart functions were then e xamined during 2 hr of normothermic reperfusion. Isovolumetric left ve ntricular-developed pressure (LVDP), its differential, heart rate, and coronary flow were measured in 5 groups of hearts: controls (fresh un stored hearts), stored drug-free hearts, stored staurosporine-treated hearts, stored BDM-treated hearts, and stored BDM+staurosporine-treate d hearts. Hearts that had been perfused with staurosporine or BDM duri ng hypothermic storage attained LVDP values that were 37% or 70%, resp ectively, of that shown by the control group. Hearts perfused without any drug in the storage buffer attained an LVDP value that was 20% of the control value. Heart rates of stored and then normothermically rep erfused hearts were lower than, but not significantly different from, values in the control group. Coronary flow values in all stored hearts were significantly lower than the control values. Thus, BDM, and to a lesser extent staurosporine, applied during prolonged hypothermic sto rage improved cardiac function during normothermic reperfusion.