Proton Transverse Relaxation Times Studies of Aging Rat Heart with Experimental Atherosclerosis

The aim: of study was related with investigation of cardiomyocyte membrane permeability in old rats fed on cholesterol reach diet which received also Aslavital and Procaine treatment.
Material and method: 24 rats aged 32 months old were divided into 4 groups of 6 rats each:A Control,B fed for 6 weeks with cholesterol reach diet only, C fed on cholesterol reach diet and treated for 6 weeks with Aslavital(4mg/kg body weightProcaine) and D fed on Cholesterol reach diet treated with Procaine(4mg/kg b.w) for 6 weeks.1H NMR permeability studies of plasmalema from Control and treated rat hearts was done with an Aremi Spectrometer at 25 MHz frequency ,measuring T2l and T2s proton transverse relaxation times. There was a decrease in T2s and T2l in plasmalemma of cardiomyocytes from rats fed on cholesterol reach diet which suggests an accelerated proton exchange across the membrane. Membrane permeability to water can be taken into consideration as an index of cardiovascular system recovery, important in mentaining a dynamic equilibrium with vascular destruction phenomenon due to high blood pressure. Our 1H NMR data pointed out that Aslavital and Procaine treatment in rats fed on Cholesterol reach diet brought about stabilisation of water exchange. Aslavital behaved as a buffered Procaine with a moderate effect upon water permeability.