Anesthesiology
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The influence of anesthetic agents on the infarction process in the ischemic myocardium is unclear. This study evaluated the effects of three intravenous and three inhalational anesthetic agents on myocardial infarction within a quantified ischemic risk zone in rabbit hearts subjected to a standardized regional ischemia-reperfusion insult. ⋯ The volatile anesthetics tested protected the ischemic rabbit heart from infarction, in contrast to the three intravenous agents tested. Protection was independent of the hypotensive effect of the inhalational agents because halothane also protected isolated hearts, in which changing vascular tone is not an issue and coronary perfusion pressure is constant. Cardioprotection by volatile anesthetics depended on both adenosine receptors and protein kinase C, and thus is similar to the mechanism of protection seen with ischemic preconditioning.