Temporary acidosis during reperfusion limits myocardial infarct size in dogs

We tested the hypothesis that myocardial extracellular acidosis during early reperfusion limits infarct size. The left anterior descending coronary artery was perfused with blood through a bypass tube in dogs. We occluded the bypass tube for 40 (protocol I; n = 24 hearts) and 90 min (protocol II; n = 36 hearts). In protocols I and II, we infused one group of hearts with HCl (60 mu g.kg(-1).min(-1)) for 60 min after the onset of reperfusion (the metabolic acidosis group), and another group of hearts were ventilated with 3 liters of 70% O-2-30% CO2 mixed with room air 10 min before the onset of reperfusion for 70 min (the respiratory acidosis group). pH in the coronary venous blood and myocardial pH during reperfusion in the metabolic and respiratory acidosis groups were lower than those in the control groups. Infarct sizes in the metabolic (16.4 +/- 2.5 and 22.3 +/- 2.5%) and respiratory (16.7 +/- 2.6 and 22.3 +/- 2.5%) acidosis groups in protocols I and II, respectively, were smaller than those in the control groups (33.1 +/- 3.0 and 40.6 +/- 4.1%, respectively). Thus we conclude that temporary acidosis during reperfusion limits infarct size.