Effects of ulinastatin postconditioning and combination of ulinastatin preconditioning and postconditioning on myocardial apoptosis in patients undergoing cardiac valve replacement with cardiopulmonary bypass / 中华麻醉学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the effects of ulinastatin postconditioning and combination of ulinastatin preconditioning and postconditioning on myocardial apoptosis in patients undergoing cardiac valve replacement with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).Methods Eighty New York Heart Association (NYHA) class Ⅱ or Ⅲ patients of both sexes,aged 21-59 years,scheduled for cardiac valve replacement with CPB,were randomly divided into four groups (n =20 each)normal saline control group (group C),ulinastatin preconditioning group (group U1),ulinastatin postconditioning group (group U2) and ulinastatin preconditioning plus postconditioning group (group U3).In group U1,uinastatin 20000 U/kg was infused via the central vein at 500-1000 U·kg-1 · min-1 after endotracheal intubation until 10 minutes before blocking the ascending aorta.In group U2,ulinastatin 10000 U/kg was infused via the aortic root at 4000-5000 U· kg-1 · min-1 at 5-7 minutes before opening the aorta.In group U3,ulinastatin preconditioning and postconditioning were performed as described in groups U1 and U2.In group C,the same volume of normal saline was infused instead of ulinastatin.Blood samples were taken from the radial artery at 10 minutes before blocking the ascending aorta,40 minutes after blocking the ascending aorta,45 minutes after opening the aorta and at the end of operation for determination of plasma concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (sTNF-R1).Myocardial tissues were obtained from the right atrial appendage at 45 minutes after opening the aorta for determination of the expression of TNF-α,bcl-2,bax,caspase-3,and apoptosis.The bcl-2/bax ratio and apoptotic index were calculated.Results Plasma concentrations of TNF-α and sTNF-R1 and the expression of TNF-α,bax,caspase-3 and apoptotic index were lower and the expression of bcl-2 and bcl-2/bax ratio were higher in groups U1,U2 and U3 than in group C and they were lower in group U3 than in groups U1 and U2 (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Ulinastatin postconditioning can inhibit myocardial apoptosis in patients undergoing cardiac valve replacement with CPB,and the efficacy of combination of ulinastatin preconditioning and postconditioning is stronger than that of ulinastatin postconditioning.The mechanism is involved in balancing the expression of bax and bcl-2 and down-regulating the expression of TNF-α and its receptor.