EARLY PATHOLOGIC DETECTION OF ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 105  (8) , 403-406
Abstract
The use of tetrazolium stains for identifying myocardial infarction during the early stages of ischemic injury has become increasingly popular in both experimental and clinical studies. The accuracy of these stains in delineating infarctions prior to the onset of well-defined histologic necrosis is unknown. Open-chested, anesthesized dogs [8] were subjected to high left anterior descending coronary artery occlusions for 6 h. The hearts were then excised and breadloafed into 5-mm-thick transverse slices that were incubated in triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) for 10 min. Three to 5 tissue samples were obtained from each of 3 areas of 2 transverse ventricular slices: from TTC-unstained areas (infarction) and TTC-stained areas, both close to the infarct and remote from the infarct, for EM. All 8 dogs had well-defined areas of unstained tissue that appeared pale gray next to the brick-red TTC-stained tissue. Ultrastructure of the TTC-stained tissue both close to and remote from the infarct showed only modest loss of glycogen and relaxation of myofibers. Ultrastructure of the TTC-unstained tissue in all 8 dogs showed numerous mitochondrial amorphous dense bodies, intracellular edema, nuclear chromatin clumping and margination, sarcolemmal disruption and interstitial edema. TTC is a reliable stain for localizing myocardial cells that ultrastructurally appear irreversibly injured by ischemia.

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