title: Short-term fasting reduces the extent of myocardial infarction and incidence of reperfusion arrhythmias in rats.
abstract: The effect of three-day fasting on cardiac ischemic tolerance was investigated in adult male Wistar rats. Anesthetized open-chest animals (pentobarbitone 60 mg/kg, i.p.) were subjected to 20-min left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion and 3-h reperfusion for infarct size determination. Ventricular arrhythmias were monitored during ischemia and at the beginning (3 min) of reperfusion. Myocardial concentrations of beta-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate were measured to assess mitochondrial redox state. Short-term fasting limited the infarct size (48.5+/-3.3 % of the area at risk) compared to controls (74.3+/-2.2 %) and reduced the total number of premature ventricular complexes (12.5+/-5.8) compared to controls (194.9+/-21.9) as well as the duration of ventricular tachycardia (0.6+/-0.4 s vs. 18.8+/-2.5 s) occurring at early reperfusion. Additionally, fasting increased the concentration of beta-hydroxybutyrate and beta-hydroxybutyrate/acetoacetate ratio (87.8+/-27.0) compared to controls (7.9+/-1.7), reflecting altered mitochondrial redox state. It is concluded that three-day fasting effectively protected rat hearts against major endpoints of acute I/R injury. Further studies are needed to find out whether these beneficial effects can be linked to altered mitochondrial redox state resulting from increased ketogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. michal.snorek@lfmotol.cuni.cz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Snorek
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hodyc
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sedivý
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Durišová
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skoumalová
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wilhelm
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neckář
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kolář
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Herget
mesh_terms: D020155:3-Hydroxybutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D000090:Acetoacetates / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000662:veterinary; D008297:Male; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000662:veterinary*; D015428:Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / Q000378:metabolism / Q000662:veterinary*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000150:complications
chemical_list: D000090:Acetoacetates; C016635:acetoacetic acid; D020155:3-Hydroxybutyric Acid