Published in:
01-09-2013 | Invited Editorial
‘Going out on a limb’: SDF-1α/CXCR4 signaling as a mechanism of remote ischemic preconditioning?
Author:
Karin Przyklenk
Published in:
Basic Research in Cardiology
|
Issue 5/2013
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Excerpt
Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) is the intriguing phenomenon whereby brief, non-lethal episodes of ischemia in one organ or vascular bed render remote tissue resistant to a subsequent, sustained period of ischemia [
23,
32]. While initially regarded as a laboratory curiosity [
24], interest in RIPC was piqued by the observation that limb ischemia, achieved noninvasively by simple inflation of a blood pressure cuff, significantly reduced myocardial infarct size in the acute swine model of coronary artery occlusion-reperfusion [
17]. In the ensuing years, since these first reports, progress has been made in defining the characteristics of RIPC-induced cardioprotection (including as-yet limited insights into cellular mechanisms), expansion of the concept beyond heart to encompass protection of other organs (including brain, kidney, liver and mesentery), and the investigation of RIPC in Phase II and III trials seeking to establish clinical efficacy in patients undergoing cardiac surgery or percutaneous intervention [
2,
3,
6,
10,
14,
19,
20,
22,
24,
25,
31]. However, resolution of the distinguishing feature of RIPC has remained elusive [
22,
24,
25]:
how is the protective stimulus transferred or communicated from the site of the RIPC stimulus to the heart? …
