LONG-TERM PRESERVATION OF THE RAT ISOLATED HEART WITH STAUROSPORINE AND 2,3-BUTANEDIONE MONOXIME

The present study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of staurosporine and 2,3-butanedione monoxime (BDM) in preserving cardiac function of long-term hypothermic-stored hearts. Rat isolated hearts were perfused very slowly at 4 degrees C for 16 hr with a storage buffer solution containing staurosporine and BDM. Heart functions were then examined during 2 hr of normothermic reperfusion. Isovolumetric left ventricular-developed pressure (LVDP), its differential, heart rate, and coronary flow were measured in 5 groups of hearts: controls (fresh unstored hearts), stored drug-free hearts, stored staurosporine-treated hearts, stored BDM-treated hearts, and stored BDM+staurosporine-treated hearts. Hearts that had been perfused with staurosporine or BDM during hypothermic storage attained LVDP values that were 37% or 70%, respectively, of that shown by the control group. Hearts perfused without any drug in the storage buffer attained an LVDP value that was 20% of the control value. Heart rates of stored and then normothermically reperfused hearts were lower than, but not significantly different from, values in the control group. Coronary flow values in all stored hearts were significantly lower than the control values. Thus, BDM, and to a lesser extent staurosporine, applied during prolonged hypothermic storage improved cardiac function during normothermic reperfusion.