Objective: To investigate the effects of acetazolamide on the ischemia-reperfused isolated hearts of 2- and 8-week-old rabbits.
Methods: This study was conducted at the Kermanshah Medical Biology Research Center, Kermanshah, Iran from March to September 2011. Two- (n=17) and 8-week old (n=17) rabbits were separately divided into 2 control (n=9), and test (n=8) groups. Isolated hearts were subjected to 35 minutes ischemia and 30 minutes reperfusion. Acetazolamide (100 microgr/l) was added to the perfusion solution for 10 minutes before ischemia in the test group. Cardiac parameters including ventricular pressure, heart rate (HR), and rate pressure product (RPP) were measured. Data sets were analyzed by t-test.
Results: Following acetazolamide administration the change percentage of HR was significantly different in the 2-week (91 +/- 1.1%) compared with the 8-week (96 +/- 0.8%) test groups (p=0.0016). Recovery percentage of RPP in reperfusion was lower (p=0.005) in the 8- (28.9 +/- 3.4%) than the 2-week test groups (45.2 +/- 3.5%).
Conclusion: The 2-week hearts elicited more rapid response to carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibition than the 8-week group. However, acetazolamide does not exacerbate ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in the 2-week hearts. Therefore, it was revealed that after inhibition of CA, the age dependent pattern of I/R injury was similar to that of the normal hearts. Inspite of the CA important role in the normal heart function, it is not a determining factor in I/R injury in different ages.