A murine model of ischemia–reperfusion: the perfusion with leptin promotes the apoptosis-related relocation of mitochondrial proteins Bax and cytochrome c

Abstract

Leptin perfusion reduces contraction pressure and worsens the response to ischemia–reperfusion Rat hearts were subject to 45 min of ischemia and 1 h of reperfusion after 1 h of perfusion with/without 3.1 nM leptin (Fig. 1 describes the experimental design). Under these conditions, we noticed a decreased contraction pressure in leptin-perfused hearts during perfusion and after 45 min of global ischemia (Fig. 2A) compared with the control group, which was perfused continuously without leptin was not subjected to ischemia. The heart rate was not affected during the first hour of perfusion (Fig. 2B); however, it dropped significantly during reperfusion in those hearts perfused with leptin compared to those subjected to ischemia–reperfusion only and for which the decrease was much slighter. These results suggest an additive deleterious effect of leptin and ischemia, which can be translated to a decreased heart performance for the ischemia–reperfusion + leptin hearts compared with the ischemia–reperfusion only group