Hypericin as a Marker for Determination of Myocardial Viability in a Rat Model of Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the necrosis-avid agent hypericin as a potential indicator for determination of myocardial infarction (MI). Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 30) weighing 350 ± 20 g were subjected to acute reperfused MI. Animals were divided into four groups (n = 6), in which hypericin was intravenously injected at 0, 1, 2 and 5 mg kg(-1) respectively. One day after injection, rats were euthanized with their hearts excised for qualitative and quantitative studies by means of microscopic fluorescence examination to decide the dosage of hypericin. Another group was injected with hypericin at the decided dose and evaluated by fluorescence macroscopy in colocalization with triphenyltetrazoliumchloride (TTC) and histomorphology. Infarct-to-normal contrast ratio and relative infarct size were quantified. Hypericin-induced red fluorescence was significantly brighter in necrotic than in viable myocardium as proven by a six times higher mean fluorescence density. Mean MI area was 35.66 ± 22.88% by hypericin fluorescence and 32.73 ± 21.98% by TTC staining (R(2) = 0.9803). Global MI-volume was 34.56 ± 21.07% by hypericin and 35.11 ± 20.47% by TTC staining (R(2) = 0.9933). The results confirm that hypericin specifically labeled necrosis, and enhanced the imaging contrast between the infarcted and normal myocardium, suggesting its potential applications for the assessment of myocardial viability.

Cardioprotective effect of Salvianolic acid B on acute myocardial infarction by promoting autophagy and neovascularization and inhibiting apoptosis

“…Infarct size was determined by Evans blue‐TTC (triphenyl tetrazolium chloride) staining as previously described . In brief, the heart was quickly excised, sectioned into 1.0‐mm portions and incubated at 37 °C in 1% TTC‐PBS for 15 min.…”

“…Infarct size was determined by Evans blue-TTC (triphenyl tetrazolium chloride) staining as previously described. [31,32] In brief, the heart was quickly excised, sectioned into 1.0mm portions and incubated at 37°C in 1% TTC-PBS for 15 min. Each stained cardiac section was photographed and analysed using a computer-based image analyser Sigma Scan Pro 5.0 (SPSS Science, Chicago, IL, USA).…”

Avenues to molecular imaging of dying cells: Focus on cancer

“…Since the compound accumulates in necrotic cells and tissues, hypericin has also been radioiodinated or labeled with 64 Cu for the imaging of tumors and infarctions in experimental animals and humans (Table ). Because of its polyphenolic polycyclic structure, hypericin has fluorescent properties and the compound can be detected in cell or preclinical experiments by optical imaging …”

“…Because of its polyphenolic polycyclic structure, hypericin has fluorescent properties and the compound can be detected in cell or preclinical experiments by optical imaging. [273][274][275]…”

Evaluation of a metalloporphyrin (THPPMnCl) for necrosis-affinity in rat models of necrosis

“…The model of reperfused MI was prepared by open-chest surgery as described before [40,41]. Briefly, rats were anaesthetized with pentobarbital, intubated and mechanically ventilated with an animal respirator (ALC-V8, Shanghai Alcott Biotech Co, Ltd, Shanghai, China) and monitored by electrocardiography (Prince 180B, Runming Medical Instrument Co, Ltd, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China).…”