Anesthetized dogs (n?=?45), instrumented to measure heart performance using sonomicrometry, were subjected to 30 minutes of warm aortic crossclamping and 60 minutes of reperfusion. Three boluses of the vehicle (series A) or 100 ¦ÌM EHNA and 25 ¦ÌM NBMPR (series B) were infused into the pump at baseline, before ischemia and before reperfusion. 8-Cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropyl-xanthine (10 ¦ÌM) or 8-(p-sulfophenyl)theophyline (100 ¦ÌM) was intra-aortically infused immediately after aortic crossclamping distal to the clamp in series A and series B. The ATP pool and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography.
Ischemia depleted ATP in all groups by 50 % . The adenosine/inosine ratios were more than 10-fold greater in series B than in series A (P?<?.001). ATP and function recovered in the EHNA/NBMPR-treated group (P?<?.05 vs control group). 8-Cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropyl-xanthine and 8-(p-sulfophenyl)theophyline partially reduced cardiac function in series A and B to the same degree but did not abolish the EHNA/NBMPR-mediated protection in series B.
In addition to the cardioprotection mediated by activation of the adenosine receptors by extracellular adenosine, EHNA/NBMPR entrapment of intracellular adenosine provided a significant component of myocardial protection despite adenosine A1 receptor blockade.