Myocardial preconditioning: Basic concepts and potential mechanisms

Preconditioning is a phenomenon, where brief periods of stress such as isch emia, heat shock or certain pharmacological agents make the heart tolerant to subsequent lethal ischemic injury. Preconditioning seems to involve a va riety of stress signals which include activation of membrane receptors and signaling molecules such as protein kinase C, mitogen-activated protein kin ases, opening of ATP-sensitive potassium channel and expression of a number of protective proteins. In this review, the potential role of these mechan isms is discussed.