ISCHEMIC PRECONDITIONING - PRESENT POSITION AND FUTURE-DIRECTIONS

Preconditioning the myocardium using short episodes of sublethal ischa emia will delay the onset of necrosis during a subsequent lethal ischa emic insult. This powerful protective adaptation of the myocyte has al so been observed in other cell types. The potential for clinical appli cation to benefit patients with a variety of pathological conditions h as led to an expansion in our knowledge concerning the pathophysiology of ischemia-reperfusion injury and the regulatory mechanisms underlyi ng cellular metabolism. We feel it is timely to assess the current pos ition in this field and provide a critical appraisal to facilitate fut ure research. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.