Abstract
Rationale The intrinsic cardiac nervous system is important in our understanding of cardiac physiology. Using a pharmacological approach, we investigated the hypotheses that these nerves play a role in (1) direct ischaemic preconditioning (IPC) and (2) the cardioprotection offered by the humoral mediator of remote ischaemic conditioning (RIC). Methods For the IPC experiment, isolated Langendorff perfused rat hearts were subjected to one of the following conditions; (1) Control + Hexamethonium (50 µM), (2) IPC (3 × 5-min global ischaemia) + Hexamethonium, (3) IPC alone. All hearts were subjected to 35-min ischaemia followed by 60-min reperfusion. In the second study, RIC (4 × 5 min hindlimb ischaemia/reperfusion) or sham was performed on anaesthetised rats, before exsanguination and centrifugation to obtain platelet-free plasma. After dialysis across a Results Hexamethonium partially, but significantly, abrogated IPC-mediated cardioprotection (Control = 44.4 ± 4.0%, IPC+Hex = 31.8 ± 5.0%, p Conclusion Intrinsic cardiac nerves seem to be important in the induction of protection both in IPC and the response to the humoral RIC mediator.
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