APAGBI/BJA/RCoA Research Grant
The successful applicant for the APAGBI, BJA, RCoA Research Grant was:
Principal Applicant
Dr Martin Lewis
Academic Clinical Fellow, Bristol Heart Institute
Title
Novel strategies to protect the immature heart against reperfusion injury
Amount
£18,005
Scientific Abstract
The paediatric myocardium is vulnerable to ischaemia/reperfusion injury during open heart surgery. Vulnerability to ischaemia/reperfusion is age dependent. The rat heart is least vulnerable at 14 days old whilst adult heart is most susceptible to injury. Recent work in Bristol using adult rat heart has shown that sequential activation of Protein Kinase A followed by activation of Protein Kinase C confers marked protection against ischaemia/reperfusion injury. Whether this intervention also protects immature heart is unknown. We aim to investigate the cardioprotective efficacy of this novel intervention during postnatal development. Hearts from young and adult rats will be extracted to assess developmental differences in protein expression/activity and relevant cellular signalling. Additional hearts from three age groups will be perfused and exposed to ischaemia and reperfusion with or without Protein Kinases A and C agonists. Injury (infarct size and enzyme release) and functional impairment (e.g. developed pressure and heart rate) will be assessed as well as intracellular changes. Establishing that sequential activation of kinases A and C, is effective in protecting developing rat heart will lead to further work investigating its efficacy during cardioplegic arrest and in our piglet model on cardiopulmonary bypass and cardioplegic arrest.
Please see the NIAA's position statement on the use of animals in medical research.
