alpha 1-adrenergic agonists precondition rabbit ischemic myocardium independent of adenosine by direct activation of protein kinase C.

Ischemic preconditioning in the rabbit is initiated by adenosine A1-receptor stimulation, which activates protein kinase C (PKC). Additionally, alpha 1-adrenergic agonists can similarly protect ischemic myocardium, but there has been confusion about the role adenosine receptors play in this protection. To characterize the interaction between adrenergic and adenosine receptors and to study the possible role of PKC in this protection, we used isolated rabbit hearts perfused with oxygenated Krebs' buffer. All hearts were subjected to 30 minutes of regional myocardial ischemia and 2 hours of reperfusion. Infarct size was determined by triphenyltetrazolium staining. Pharmacologic preconditioning in hearts with a 5-minute phenylephrine (PE) infusion 10 minutes before the prolonged regional ischemia resulted in significantly smaller infarcts (9.7 +/- 1.3% of risk area) than in control hearts (31.0 +/- 2.6%, P < .05). This protection could be effectively blocked by administration of the alpha-adrenergic blocker phenoxybenzamine. Methoxamine, an alpha 1a-selective agonist, failed to protect, whereas the alpha 1b-selective antagonist chloroethylclonidine aborted the protective effect of PE. Polymyxin B, an inhibitor of PKC, also blocked the protective effect of PE, implying that PKC has an important role in preconditioning. The adenosine receptor blocker 8-(p-sulfophenyl)theophylline (SPT) given at the same time as the PE infusion did not affect the protection, implying that an alpha 1-agonist could initiate protection independent of adenosine, presumably by direct coupling to PKC. However, the protective effect of PE could be blocked if SPT were administered during the 30-minute regional ischemia. This observation suggested that adenosine receptor occupancy is necessary during long ischemia to reactivate PKC and mediate the protection. However, the addition of a second PE infusion beginning 5 minutes before and continuing throughout the long ischemic period restored the protective effect of PE despite the presence of SPT. Thus, as long as at least one of the receptors (alpha 1-adrenegic or adenosine A1) is activated during long ischemia, protection will be realized. These data indicate that alpha 1 receptors do not precondition through an adenosine intermediate but that alpha 1-adrenergic and adenosine receptors activate parallel pathways within the myocyte that can trigger and mediate protection.