Ischemia-reperfusion injury of the isolated diabetic rat heart: effect of the antioxidant stobadine

Abstract

The etiology of diabetic complications is strongly associated with increased oxidative stress. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the potent antioxidant stobadine (STB) on global ischemia-reperfusion cardiac injury in the rat model of diabetes mellitus (DM). Diabetes was induced by multiple low doses of streptozotocin. The effect of STB was compared with that of a high dose of α-lipoic acid (ALA). All experiments were performed on isolated Langendorff-perfused hearts 10 weeks after streptozotocin administration. Diabetic hearts showed to be more resistant to ischemia-reperfusion than the control hearts, as shown by the reduced number of reperfusion dysrhythmias. The effect of the therapy with ALA (100 mg/kg i.p., 5 times a week during 8 weeks) was comparable to that of STB (25 mg/kg i.p., 5 times a week during 8 weeks) resulting in lowering the heart rate and coronary flow as well as the number of serious reperfusion dysrhythmias. Though the protective effect of STB on the reperfusion-induced dysrhythmias was comparable with that of ALA, both substances failed to enhance functional recovery of the diabetic rat heart.