Background. Global
myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury after
heart transplantation is believed to impair graft function and aggravate both acute and chronic rejection episodes. Objectives. To assess the possible protective potential of
MK-886 and
3,5-diiodothyropropionic acid DITPA against global
myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury after
heart transplantation. Materials and Methods. Adult albino rats were randomized into 6 groups as follows: group I
sham group; group II, control group; groups III and IV, control vehicles (1,2); group V,
MK-886 treated group. Donor rats received
MK-886 30 min before
transplantation, and the same dose was repeated for recipients upon reperfusion; in group VI, DITPA treated group, donors and recipients rats were pretreated with DITPA for 7 days before
transplantation. Results. Both
MK-886 and DITPA significantly counteract the increase in the levels of cardiac TNF- α ,
IL-1 β , and
ICAM-1 and plasma level of cTnI (P < 0.05). Morphologic analysis showed that both
MK-886 and DITPA markedly improved (P < 0.05) the severity of cardiac injury in the heterotopically transplanted rats. Conclusions. The results of our study reveal that both
MK-886 and DITPA may ameliorate global
myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury after
heart transplantation via interfering with inflammatory pathway.