Sustained Protection by Iloprost of the Porcine Heart in the Acute and Chronic Phases of Myocardial Infarction

12 anesthetized and heparinized pigs subjected to coronary microembolization via microsphere injection (three groups of four).

Iloprost infusion (0.18 micrograms/kg/min) started 30 min before embolization with 12 million beads/kg.

Coronary microembolization without iloprost (either 12 million beads/kg leading to death, or 6 million beads/kg leading to ischemia and infarction).

Myocardial ischemia (measured by ST segment elevation and inosine release) and myocardial infarction (assessed by postmortem examination at 7 days).surrogate