Abstract

The effects of acidified sodium nitrite (NaNO2) which releases nitric oxide, a substance which is thought to be indistinguishable from endothelium-derived relaxing factor, were investigated in a 6-h model of myocardial ischemia (MI) with reperfusion in open-chest, anesthetized cats. Acidified NaNO2 (12.5-50 mmol/kg/hr) was infused i.v., starting 30 min postocclusion followed by reperfusion 1 hr later, in cats subjected to MI by occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Acidified NaNO2 infusion (25 and 50 mmol/kg/hr) resulted in significantly lower plasma creatine kinase activities at every time beyond 1 hr for the MI + vehicle group, and was not significantly different when compared to sham MI + NaNO2 controls. The areas at risk expressed as percentage of the total left ventricular weights were not significantly different between the MI + vehicle and MI + acidified NaNO2 groups. However, the necrotic area expressed as a percentage of the myocardial area at risk was significantly lower in the 25 and 50 mmol/kg/hr NaNO2-treated cats. Cardiac myeloperoxidase activities indicated that significantly fewer neutrophils were attracted to the ischemic zone of the NaNO2-treated MI cats when compared to the vehicle-infused MI cats. Acidified NaNO2 significantly inhibited platelet aggregation in a dose-dependent manner in cat platelet-rich plasma. Thus, acidified NaNO2 exerts a significant protective action during ischemia and reperfusion injury, which suggests that endothelium-derived relaxing factor has a cardioprotective effect in MI.