Effects of aspirin and prostacyclin on arrhythmias resulting from coronary artery ligation and on infarct size

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Abstract
1 The effects of pretreatment with aspirin, and of prostacyclin (PGI2) infusions, on responses to myocardial ischaemia and infarction produced by ligation of a coronary artery were investigated in conscious rats. 2 Surgical preparation, under halothane anaesthesia, consisted of implanting exteriorized aortic and jugular cannulae, ECG leads and a polypropylene/polyethylene occluder for the left anterior descending coronary artery. Ligation of the coronary artery was performed six to nine days after surgery. 3 Aspirin pretreatment consisted of 100 mg/kg given intravenously 1 or 36 h before ligation. PGI2 infusions (10–400 ng kg−1 min−1, i.v.) were begun 2 min before ligation and continued for 4 h afterwards. 4 ECG, blood pressure, heart rate and arrhythmias were recorded starting 30 min before, and continuing for 4 h after, ligation. Twenty-four hours after ligation, in surviving animals, the heart was removed for estimation of occluded and infarcted zones. 5 Some treatments provided antiarrhythmic and other protection in the first 30 min post-ligation. By 4 and 24 h post-ligation, protective effects were lost. 6 Both aspirin pretreatment and low doses of prostacyclin reduced arrhythmias occurring within 30 min of ligation. The highest dose of prostacylin (400 ng kg−1 min−1) was arrhythmogenic. 7 None of the treatments influenced the amount of cardiac tissue occluded or infarcted by ligation. 8 The conclusions from this study in conscious rats were that acute aspirin pretreatment and low doses of infused prostacyclin have limited beneficial actions which are mainly confined to the earliest post-ligation period.