Acute oxygen-ozone administration to rats protects the heart from ischemia reperfusion infarct

. Objective and design: We tested here the effects of acute administration of an oxygen/ozone (O 3 ) mixture on the myocardial tissue damage following an ischemic event. Material or subjects: The study was done in Sprague-Dawley rats subjected to acute myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). Treatment: 100; 150; and 300 μg/kg oxygen/O 3 mixture were insufflated intraperitoneally 1 h prior to I/R. Methods: Myocardial infarct size measurement and immunhistochemistry or ELISA for nitrotyrosine, CD68, CD8,CD4 and caspase-3 were done. Results: I/R produced a marked damage in the rat left ventricle with an infarct size as percentage of the area at risk (IS/ AR) of ~45 ± 4% . Rats insufflated with a oxygen/O 3 mixture showed a significant 2-h cardio-protection (e. g. infarct size over area at risk for the dose of 300 μg/kg was ~30 ± 3%,) as compared with control rats (P