Tolerance to acute ischemia in hypertrophic myocardium

Background: The degree of ischemic injury of the heart muscle depends not only on the intensity and duration of the ischemic insult, but also on the cardiac tolerance to oxygen deprivation. Cardiac tolerance to ischemia changes significantly during ontogenetic development neonates are more resistant to ischemia then adults. Moreover, cardiac tolerance to ischemia/reperfusion injury in adults is sex-dependent males are less tolerant than females. Individually the tolerance to ischemia decreases in certain pathological conditions, particularly in heart muscle hypertrophy. Aim: 1. The aim of this study was to answer the question whether the degree of tolerance to oxygen deprivation in hearts of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) is sex-dependent and to verify the hypothesis whether cardiac tolerance of the normal neonatal heart differs from that of hypertensive rats. 2. To determine whether a higher resistence of the female hypertrophied myocardium to ischemia/reperfusion injury can be seen in clinical medicine. (...) Conclusions: We can conclude, that male and female hearts differ significantly in many parameters. Detailed mechanisms of these differences are still unknown but it is clear that they are so important that they deserve serious consideration in clinical practice and in the search for proper..