Cardioprotective effects of heparin or N-acetylheparin in an in vivo model of myocardial ischaemic and reperfusion injury

Anaesthetised dogs subjected to 90 min of left circumflex coronary artery occlusion and 6 h of reperfusion, with ischaemic zone blood flow of ≤ 0.16 ml.min-1.g-1 (n=33)

Heparin or N-acetylheparin given in three repeated intravenous doses of 2 mg.kg-1 (75 min after onset of ischaemia, and 90 and 180 min after reperfusion)

Vehicle (0.9% saline) given at the same time points

Myocardial infarct size as a percentage of area at risksurrogate