Second window of protection against infarction in conscious rabbits: Real or artifactual

To date, most studies of the second window of protection against infarction (SWOP) have evaluated infarct size by staining with triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) soon after reperfusion. However, early TTC staining has been found to be an unreliable indicator of the ultimate infarct size following some interventions. Therefore, we tested whether SWOP could induce a sustained limitation of infarct size. Instrumented, conscious rabbits underwent 30 min of coronary occlusion. Infarct size was determined by either TTC staining after 3h of reperfusion or conventional histology after 72h of reperfusion. In the TTC study, 43.5 +/- 3.1% of the risk zone infarcted in the control group. Four cycles of 5 min ischemia/10 min reperfusion 24h prior to 30 min ischemia significantly reduced infarct size measured by TTC to 32.5 +/- 2.3% (P<0.05 v control). In the histological study 57.8 +/- 3.6% of the risk zone infarcted in the control group. However, ischemic preconditioning 24h prior to the 30 min ischemia did not protect the heart (59.3 +/- 4.4% infarction). Thus the infarct-limiting effect of SWOP evaluated with early TTC staining could not be demonstrated when infarction was assessed by histology after 3 days of reperfusion. These data suggest that SWOP may not have a sustained anti-infarct effect, but rather may simply delay the progression to infarction. (C) 1999 Academic Press.