Investigations on the new free radical scavenger polynitroxyl-albumin to prevent ischemia and reperfusion injury after orthotopic heart transplantation in the pig model

Objective: Nitroxides have strong antioxidant capacity but their effectiven ess is limited by their rapid intracellular inactivation. Poly nitroxyl-Alb umin (PNA) is capable of regenerating inactivated nitroxide. We tested the effect of PNA against reperfusion injury in heart transplantation. Methods: Pig hearts were transplanted orthotopically. In the control group (n = 9) reperfusion was performed without reperfusion modifications. In the experim ental group (n = 10) 1 ml/kg PNA was given before cross-clamp release. Resu lts: Hemodynamic performance was impaired after transplantation in both gro ups without significant intergroup differences. Plasma malonedialdehyde lev els were significantly diminished in the PNA group as compared to the contr ols. CK-MB levels in both groups were increased within the first 2 h of rep erfusion without significant intergroup differences. In contrast, there wer e found significant higher values of myocardial specific lactate dehydrogen ase (LD1) in the controls versus PNA group. Conclusions: PNA was able to re duce lipid peroxidation and attenuate free radical activity. Contractile dy sfunction could no be improved, indicating that (a) the radical scavenging effect was to weak or (b) other mechanisms than free oxygen radicals are re sponsible for myocardial damage in this experimental model. (C) 2001 Elsevi er Science B.V. All rights reserved.