Depletion of
heart fatty acid binding protein (
H-FABP) from cardiomyocytes with varying post-
ischemia intervals was studied in acute
myocardial infarction (AMI) model of rat, and 22 human autopsy cases were studied with
streptavidin-
peroxidase conjugated method (S-P). It was observed that as early as 15 min after
ischemia, the depletion of
H-FABP could be detected in model rats. With the ischemic time prolonged, the depletion of
H-FABP was more and more evident. In all human cases with
myocardial infarction, absent
H-FABP staining could be found in infarcted area. And in some suspected early
myocardial infarction cases, depletion of
H-FABP staining could be demonstrated in areas that showed normal
hematoxylin-
eosin (HE) staining. The blood samples from model rats before
ligation, at varying post-
ischemia intervals and various postmortem time were measured for plasma concentration of
H-FABP with
enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) method. At 15 min after
myocardial ischemia, the concentration of
H-FABP was 4 times higher (546.0+/-85.3 microg/l) than that of the baseline level (103.7+/-94.1 microg/l). With the continuation of ischemic time, the concentration of
H-FABP increased and peaked at 4 h (1953.5+/-405.3 microg/l), then decreased. The plasma concentration of
H-FABP decreased slightly with postmortem time, but was still significant higher at any postmortem intervals than that of baseline level within 48 h after death. The results suggest that
H-FABP staining can detect very early ischemic damages in human myocardium and the elevated plasma concentration of
H-FABP in rat was an
indicator of AMI, which was not affected by
autolysis.