Independent dual perfusion of left and right coronary arteries in isolated rat hearts.

A novel dual lumen aortic cannula was designed and constructed to permit independent perfusion of left and right coronary beds in isolated rat hearts without necessitating the cannulation of individual arteries. Stability of the dual-perfusion preparation was shown to be similar to that of the conventional Langendorff preparation, in terms of coronary flow, heart rate, and high-energy phosphate content. The independence of left and right perfusion beds was confirmed by unilateral infusion of disulfine blue dye and spectrophotometric detection of the dye in ventricular homogenates. Transient cessation of flow to the left coronary bed resulted in severe ventricular arrhythmias upon reperfusion, as in conventional models of regional ischemia and reperfusion. The dual-perfusion model is technically undemanding, reproducible, inexpensive, and can be used in several species. It enables studies with 1) regional low flow ischemia, 2) regional zero-flow ischemia without coronary ligation (with attendant damage to vasculature), 3) selective application of drugs or interventions to the ischemic-reperfused zone, and 4) selective application of components of ischemia and reperfusion to a site anatomically relevant to ischemic heart disease.