Abstract
MCI-186 (3-methyl-1-phenyl-2-pyrazolin-5-one), a free radical scavenger, has the ability
to stimulate prostacyclin release and to inhibit the lipoxygenase pathway in the arachidonic
acid cascade. The authors investigated the cytoprotective effect of MCI-86 in a reperfusion
model of myocardial ischemia. Rats were subjected to occlusion of the left coronary
artery for ten minutes followed by reperfusion for twenty-four hours. The loss of
myocardial creatine kinase activity (CK) from the left ventricular free wall (LVFW)
twenty-four hours after the induction of myocardial ischemia was used as an index
of ischemic damage. Administration of MCI-186 (3 mg/kg IV) significantly blunted the
depletion of LVFW-CK activity when compared with vehicle (MCI-186 vs vehicle, 31.5
± 1.1 vs 26.5 ± 1.2 U/mg protein, respectively, p < 0.01). In another group of rats that underwent coronary artery occlusion—reperfusion,
infarct size was measured by planimetry on histologic sections of serial slices of
the left ventricle and was found to be 20.0 ± 1.3% of the left ventricle in vehicle-treated
rats and 10.7 ± 1.3% in MCI-186 (3 mg/kg)-treated rats (p < 0.01). These results indicate the potential usefulness of MCI-186 in myocardial
ischemia-reperfusion injury.
