Inhomogeneous Disappearance of Myofilament-Related Cytoskeletal Proteins in Stunned Myocardium of Guinea Pig

The decrease in Ca sup 2+ responsiveness of myofilaments in stunned myocardium implies that there may be structural changes in proteins composing the contractile machinery. To elucidate the lesion in stunned myocardium, isolated guinea pig hearts were subjected to global ischemia at 37 degrees C and reperfused. SDS-PAGE revealed that the contents of desmin, alpha-actinin, and spectrin decreased in the myofibrillar fraction isolated from hearts reperfused after 60-minute ischemia compared with nonischemic control hearts. To examine the change of cytoskeletal proteins in stunned myocardium, immunohistochemical studies with antibodies against these proteins were performed after 15 minutes of ischemia. In stunned myocardium, the staining was largely intact, but there were some lesions where desmin was not stained and alpha-actinin and spectrin were only weakly identified. The percentage of normally stained areas in the myocardium (percent stained area), quantified by image processing, was significantly lower in stunned myocardium (79.6+/-3.6%, mean+/-SEM) than in nonischemic control myocardium (96.5+/-0.7%). Percent recovery of developed pressure significantly correlated with percent stained area (r=.82, P