Tolerance to ischemia and hypoxia is reduced in aged human myocardium

Abstract

Background: Recovery of cardiac function after cardiac surgery and other interventional cardiac procedures in elderly patients is inferior to that in younger patients, suggesting that the aged myocardium is more sensitive to ischemia and other stresses. Although convincing data from animal studies of senescence now exist, there is a dearth of controlled in vitro studies that examine the specific response of aged human myocardium to the stress of hypoxia or ischemia. Objective: We sought to determine the effect of age on the capacity of human atrial trabeculae to recover contractile function after in vitro hypoxic or ischemic stress. Methods: Atrial pectinate trabeculae were dissected from th..