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BACKGROUND: We investigated in rabbits whether sevoflurane enhances late cardioprotection induced by geranylgeranylacetone (GGA), a gastric antiulcer drug.

METHODS: S(+)-ketamine and xylazine-anesthetized rabbits were assigned to one of seven experimental groups: a control (vehicle only) group, a GGA group, a sevoflurane group, a GGA+sevoflurane group, a sodium 5-hydroxydecanoate (5HD) group, a GGA + 5HD group, and a heat stress group. All rabbits were subjected to 30 min of coronary artery occlusion followed by 3 h of reperfusion. Rabbits were pretreated with IV vehicle, GGA (10 mg/kg), or heat stress (42°C for 15 min) 24 h before coronary occlusion. Sevoflurane (0.5 minimum alveolar concentration) or 5HD (5 mg/kg) were administered before myocardial ischemia. Myocardial infarct size and the area at risk for ischemia were measured, and heat shock protein (Hsp) 70 levels in each experimental group were determined.

RESULTS: Compared with vehicle only, GGA significantly reduced the size of myocardial infarction in relation to the area at risk (39 ± 10% vs 59 ± 9%, P < 0.02). Sevoflurane enhanced the GGA-induced cardioprotection (23 ± 17%, P < 0.05 vs GGA). The cardioprotective effect of GGA was abolished by administration of 5HD (56 ± 15%, P < 0.01). GGA enhanced Hsp 70 expression compared with that in the control group (0.69 ± 0.15 vs 0.36 ± 0.05, P < 0.02). Administration of GGA with sevoflurane resulted in the same level of Hsp 70 expression as GGA (0.69 ± 0.16, P > 0.98).

CONCLUSIONS: GGA appears to reduce myocardial infarct size in association with increased Hsp 70 expression. Sevoflurane enhances the GGA-induced cardioprotective effect.

The Day We Found the Universe
Written by Marcia Bartusiak

From one of our most acclaimed science writers: a dramatic narrative of the discovery of the true nature and startling size of the universe, delving back past the moment of revelation to trace the decades of work--by a select group of scientists--that made it possible.
On January 1, 1925, thity-five-year-old Edwin Hubble announced findings that ultimately established that our universe was a thousand trillion times larger than previously believed, filled with myriad galaxies like our own. It was a realization that reshaped how humans understood their place in the cosmos. Six years later, continuing research by Hubble and others forced Albert Einstein to renounce his own cosmic model and finally accept the astonishing fact that the universe was not immobile but instead expanding. The story of these interwoven discoveries includes battles of will, clever insights, and wrong turns made by the early investigators in this great twentieth-century pursuit, from the luminaries (Einstein, Hubble, Harlow Shapley) to the lesser known: Henrietta Leavitt, who discovered the means to measure the vast dimensions of the cosmos . . . Vesto Slipher, the first and unheralded discoverer of the universe’s expansion . . . Georges Lemaître, the Jesuit priest who correctly interpreted Einstein’s theories in relation to the universe . . . Milton Humason, who, with only an eighth-grade education, became a world-renowned expert on galaxy motions . . . and others.
Here is the watershed moment in our cosmic history, splendidly arising from the exceptional combination of human curiosity, intelligence, and enterprise.