Temporal and Spatial Development of Infarcts in Porcine Hearts

We investigated the temporal and spatial development of infarcts in porcine hearts to evaluate the time-dependent beneficial effect of reperfusion on infarct size. The left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) was occluded in 17 pigs for different periods of time followed by 4 hours of reperfusion. Transmural needle biopsies subdivided into subendocardial and subepicardial halves were taken from the ischemic apex after 60 min of ischemia to determine the tissue concentrations of ATP and NAD. The myocardium-at-risk was assessed with a fluorescent dye injected into the right atrium at the end of the experiments, just after the LAD had been reoccluded. The excised hearts were cut into slices parallel to the heart basis. The ischemic myocardium was measured by planimetry of the non-fluorescent areas whereas the infarcted tissue was determined with the NBT stain and related to the area-at-risk. Ischemic cell death started in the jeopardized left ventricular subendocardial septum after about 30 min of ischemia. The further progress involved the right subendocardial septum and the subendocardium of the left anterior free wall. Already after 75 min of ischemia most of the myocytes-at-risk were irreversibly injured. Infarctions reached their final extent after 90-120 min of ischemia. These results indicate that in hearts without a significant collateral blood flow reperfusion can only reduce infarct size if its initiated within 60-75 min of ischemia. Like in canine hearts infarctions progress from the ischemic subendocardium towards the outer layers.