Rats received 1, 3 or 7 daily pGz treatments of 60 minutes, or no pGz (CONT). Twenty-four hours after the last pGz treatment, ischemia reperfusion injury was produced by ligation of the left coronary artery (LCA) for 30 minutes followed by 90 minutes of reperfusion.
All pGz preconditioned animals survived 90 minutes. Three and 7 days of pGz preconditioning reduced myocardial infarct size by 41 and 38 % respectively, with better left ventricular function. Additionally, pGz preconditioning increased eNOS, p-eNOS, Akt and p-Akt, HSP70 and nNOS proteins. L-NAME (NOS inhibitor) or Wortmannin (PI3/Akt inhibitor) 15 minutes prior to LCA ligation abolished pGz's cardioprotective effects.
pGz preconditioning provides SWOP, with increased survival, infarct size reduction, and improved contractility, in part due to up regulation of HSP70 and the PI3/Akt/eNOS , which last at least 72 hours.