Effect of Glucocorticoids on Ultrastructure of Myocardial Muscle in the Course of Experimentally Induced Acute Myocardial Ischemia.

The search for effective methods of myocardial cytoprotection against ischemia is the most significant issue in modern cardiology and cardiac surgery. Glucocorticoids are deemed very strong modulators of inflammatory response and thus can potentially protect heart muscle from postreperfusion injury and myocardial ischemia during cardiac surgery. Ultrastructural examination of the left ventricle heart samples revealed that the intravenous application of dexamethasone and hydrocortisone proved to exert cytoprotective effect on cardiomyocytes during experimentally induced acute ischemia in rats.