Myocardial prostacyclin and thromboxane A2 synthetase activities during ischemia and reperfusion in isolated rabbit heart

The aim of the study was to determine the prostacyclin (PGI2) and thromboxane A2 (TXA2) synthetase activities of myocardial tissue and their variation during ischemia and reperfusion. Regional ischemia was induced by 10 min occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery in isolated Langendorff rabbit hearts. Biosynthesis of PGI2 and TXA2 were carried out by using arachidonic acid as substrate and left ventricle microsomes (LVM) from ischemic and non-ischemic areas as sources of PGI2 and TXA2 synthetase. 6-keto-PGF1 alpha and TXB2, stable metabolites of PGI2 and TXA2 respectively, were determined by radioimmunoassay. Experiments carried out under the adopted conditions showed that LVM were able to synthetise PGI2 as well as TXA2 from arachidonic acid. On the other hand, ischemia depressed both PGI2 and TXA2 synthetase activities of cardiac tissue: the depression was more pronounced on TXA2 synthetase than on PGI2 synthetase with no significant difference between ischemic and non-ischemic regions. Moreover, ischemia increased the ratio 6-keto-PGF1 alpha/TXB2 indicating therefore that it can facilitate the formation of PGI2. The post ischemic reperfusion of the heart counteracted the decrease in PGI2 synthetase induced by ischemia which returned to the normal level: reperfusion also slightly reversed the decrease in TXA2 the decrease in TXA2 synthetase. However, the diminution in TXA2 synthetase of non-ischemic myocardium was attenuated but it remained lower than the normal level. These results suggested that the whole left ventricle is affected by regional ischemia. Furthermore it appears that myocardial TXA2 synthetase is more vulnerable than PGI2 synthetase to a lack of oxygen and nutrients.