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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1999;118:422-429
© 1999 Mosby, Inc.
CARDIOPULMONARY SUPPORT AND PHYSIOLOGY |
This work was supported in part by grants from the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation, the Paulo Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Stein Endowment Fund, and the National Institutes of Health (R37HL52246 and R01HL 21544).
Address for reprints: Jari Petäjä, MD, PhD, Childrens Hospital, University of Helsinki, Stenbäckinkatu 11, FIN-00290 Helsinki, Finland (E-mail: jari.petaja{at}dlc.fi).
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Protein C pathway is a major physiologic anticoagulant system whose defects result in significant thrombotic diathesis.
8-12 Activated protein C (APC) may be an important anticoagulant in arterial circulation because, in animal studies, both physiologic activation of protein C in ischemic coronary circulation
13 and promising results of therapeutic use of APC in several models of arterial thrombosis have been reported.
14-19 During human cardiac surgery and coronary ischemia, the protein C pathway has previously been evaluated in terms of its nonenzymatic components, including zymogen protein C,
20,21 but informative data for APC levels in plasma are lacking.
In this study, we demonstrate a significant activation of protein C during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and especially during myocardial reperfusion. Moreover, the increase in APC measured after 10 minutes of reperfusion is associated with more favorable cardiac function 24 hours after the operation. The data suggest an antithrombotic role for protein C activation during vascular ischemia.
| Patients and methods |
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Anesthesia and operation.
Patients were premedicated with lorazepam. Anesthesia was both induced and maintained with fentanyl citrate and midazolam. Enflurane or isoflurane was supplemented when needed. Pancuronium was used for muscle relaxation. A ventilator was used before CPB and after aortic unclamping.
The aorta and right atrium were cannulated for CPB. Left ventricular pressure was measured with a 4F pediatric thermodilution catheter (Arrow AI-07122, Arrow International, Inc, Reading, Pa) and single-use transducer (Deltran II, Utah Medical Products, Inc, Midvale, Utah). The catheter was placed into the left ventricle via the right superior pulmonary vein and the mitral valve. The coronary sinus was catheterized through the right atrium with a 14F coronary sinus cannula (Research Medical Inc, Sandy, Utah).
With the aid of conventional monitor devices and techniques, multiple hemodynamic variables (heart rate, stroke volume, mean arterial pressure [MAP], cardiac output [CO] and cardiac index [CO/body surface area], mean central venous pressure [CVP], pulmonary capillary wedge pressure [PCWP], mean pulmonary artery pressure [PAP], diastolic PAP, systemic vascular resistance [SVR], systemic vascular resistance index, pulmonary vascular resistance [PVR], and pulmonary vascular resistance index) were recorded at induction, immediately after CPB, on closure of the sternum, and 6 and 24 hours after the operation. In the calculations, the following formulas were used:
SVR = 80 · (MAP CVP)/CO
PVR = 80 · (PAP PCWP)/CO
The extracorporeal circuit was primed with 2000 mL of crystalloid solution containing 5000 IU of heparin. Before cannulation, the patients received a 300 IU/kg dose of heparin. Additional heparin was given when needed to maintain the activated clotting time over 400 seconds. CPB was conducted with nonpulsatile perfusion at a flow rate of 2.0 to 2.4 L/m2. Mean arterial pressure was maintained at 40 to 80 mm Hg and hypothermia at 30°C to 32°C. The mean duration of CPB was 95 minutes (range, 47-146 minutes). After cessation of CPB, protamine (1 mg/100 IU of heparin) was administered. The duration of the extracorporeal perfusion after aortic unclamping was, on average, 30% of aortic crossclamping time.
The present study was integrated as a part of a nitecapone intervention trial. Nitecapone is a catechol derivative acting as a scavenger of superoxide, nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl radicals, resulting in an antioxidant effect. In the control subjects, cardioplegia was induced with Plegisol solution (Orion-Pharma, Espoo, Finland) in a dose of 15 mL/kg body weight. An additional 2.0 mL/kg dose of the cardioplegic solution was infused every 15 minutes unless earlier necessitated by ventricular fibrillation. In the nitecapone group, a 50 µmol/L concentration of nitecapone (Orion-Pharma) was added to the cardioplegic solution.
Blood samples.
The timing of the blood samples was as follows: after induction of anesthesia but before the operation began (Pre), just before the onset of CPB (Before), just before aortic unclamping (0), and at 1, 5, and 10 minutes after aortic unclamping. After induction of anesthesia and just before aortic unclamping, a blood sample was drawn from the radial arterial cannula. At other time points, parallel blood samples were drawn from the aortic root and the coronary sinus. Nine volumes of blood were mixed with 1 volume of 0.109 mol/L trisodium citrate or, for APC and fibrinopeptide A (FPA) assays, with 1 volume of 0.2 mol/L EDTA + 0.3 mol/L benzamidine in 10 mmol/L HEPES, pH 7.4. Platelet poor plasma was separated by centrifugation (1900g for 15 minutes at 4°C) and the samples were stored at 70°C until assayed.
Laboratory methods.
The assays were run as duplicates. For all assays except for APC measurements, pooled normal human plasma from Precision Biologicals (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada) was used as a standard and the results are expressed as percentage relative to this plasma pool defined as 100%. For the APC assays, another, noncommercial plasma pool was used as a standard and taken as 100%.
23
APC levels in plasma were determined by an enzyme capture assay as described previously.
23 In brief, a monoclonal antibody against protein C was immobilized in microplates, after which the surface was blocked. Then, plasma samples containing APC and benzamidine, a reversible inhibitor of APC, were incubated in the wells for capture of APC and protein C antigen. Then unbound sample constituents and the benzamidine were removed by extensive washing. Finally, the amidolytic activity of the captured APC was measured with a chromogenic substrate S-2366 (Chromogenix AB, Mölndal, Sweden). The sensitivity of this assay is 5 pmol/L, corresponding to 13% of the normal mean plasma level.
23 Total protein C based on its activity was measured by activating the bound protein C in the immunocaptured samples by Protac reagent (American Diagnostica, Greenwich, Conn) and by then measuring the amidolytic activity on the chromogenic substrate S-2366.
23 Since APC was less than 1% of total protein C, the amidolytic activity observed after Protac reagent activation essentially equaled total protein C. Protein C antigen and total protein S antigen were assayed by Asserachrom Protein C and Asserachrom Protein S kits from Diagnostica Stago (Parsippany, NJ), respectively. Free protein S was determined by a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method with 2 monoclonal antifree protein S antibodies as described earlier.
24 C4b-binding protein was measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
24
FPA levels were measured from the plasma samples anticoagulated with EDTA-benzamidine with the use of an Asserachrom FPA kit (American Diagnostics, Parsippany, NJ). Fibrinogen was removed from the samples by centrifuging sample aliquots in 0.5 mL spin vials fitted with 30,000 molecular weight cut off membranes (Gelman Sciences, Ann Arbor, Mich).
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Statistical methods.
Plasma concentrations of variables were calculated both corrected and uncorrected for hematocrit value. Within CPB and reperfusion, hemodilution did not have any significant effect on the results. Therefore the results are presented as uncorrected. When values during the operation were compared with those at induction, the 2-tailed Wilcoxon signed rank test was used because large differences in variances necessitated a nonparametric approach. When variances were not significantly different, continuous variables with normal distributions were also compared with the Student t test for unpaired samples. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used for calculation of correlations. Data are presented as mean ± standard error of mean (SEM).
Ethics.
The study was approved by the ethics committee of the University Central Hospital of Helsinki and by the Ministry of Health of Finland. Informed consent was obtained from each patient before entry into the study.
| Results |
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Plasma levels of protein C activity and antigen and of APC for the 20 subjects at various times before and during CPB are shown inFig 1, A to D. In 1 patient, samples after aortic unclamping were not obtained and all presented data involving post-unclamping samples are for 19 subjects. Hemodilution during CPB resulted in a 40% to 50% decrease in protein C levels(Fig 1
, A and B). In contrast, APC plasma levels decreased by about 20% before CPB and remained stable despite the hemodilution during the operation. Remarkably, during reperfusion a rapid and pronounced increase in APC levels occurred that was linear with time(Fig 1
, C). When the data were analyzed as the ratio between APC and protein C antigen level, which is not affected by hemodilution, the rate of APC increase was greatly enhanced on reperfusion(Fig 1
, D). Even though we probably did not observe the true "APC peak" (APC was still rising at the 10-minute sample), 79% of the total measured increase in the APC/protein C ratio occurred after aortic unclamping and only 21% of the increase was measured during aortic crossclamping. A comparison of venous and arterial samples showed no gradient in the APC levels across the coronary vascular bed(Fig 1
, C and D).
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The levels of free protein S, total protein S, and C4b-binding protein are shown inTable I. In accordance with the presumed acute phase reaction of the current patients with severe symptomatic coronary heart disease, the baseline levels of total C4b-binding protein were about twice normal (209% ± 14% of normal). Since protein S complexes with C4b-binding protein,
24 it is logical that free protein S, which represents an active anticoagulant cofactor for APC, was also reduced in the preoperative sample (70% ± 4% of normal mean). The ratio of free to total protein S reflects availability of protein S as an APC cofactor. As seen inTable I
, this ratio decreased from the preoperative 0.61 ± 0.03 to 0.50 ± 0.03 just before CPB and later normalized to 0.56 ± 0.05 toward the end of the observation period. However, when compared with alterations in the APC level(Fig 1
), the slight albeit statistically significant drop in the free/total protein S ratio caused only a minor change in the availability of free protein S, an APC cofactor, during the operation and CPB.
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| Discussion |
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We were unable to show local activation of protein C across the coronary circulation as previously suggested by Snow and associates,
13 who used a porcine model of brief occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery. However, such local activation could not be excluded because the reperfused coronary vascular bed could be a site of both enhanced APC consumption and APC production. The transcoronary gradient of FPA showed locally enhanced activation of coagulation, which physiologically may result in consumption of physiologic anticoagulants including APC. Overall, however, increased levels of APC were present both systemically and locally in the coronary circulation on reperfusion of ischemic tissue.
In pigs, occlusion of a coronary artery caused a rapid increase in the APC level in the interventricular vein, and blocking this activation by antiprotein C monoclonal antibodies impaired the recovery of the ischemic myocardium.
13 Additionally, APC reduced arterial thrombus formation in a variety of animal models.
14-19 Thus it is interesting that a low APC generation response in the present study was associated with compromised postoperative recovery of the myocardium and the hemodynamic state of the patient. Remarkably, 24 hours after the operation, cardiac output, central venous pressure, and pulmonary artery pressure correlated positively and systemic vascular resistance negatively with APC generation during the immediate reperfusion of the heart. Qualitatively, these findings in patients subjected to CPB are in good agreement with previous porcine data
13 and may be explained by microvascular thrombosis in the coronary or other vascular beds of the body.
APC and FPA levels correlated directly with each other, indicating the known significance of thrombin for activation of protein C.
15,27 Thus one might ask whether the current hemodynamic effects attributed to APC could actually be mediated by thrombin or by some other thrombin effect independent of APC, for example, activation of fibrinolysis. In this regard the current data are inconclusive because only protein C activation was measured. However, a causal contribution from APC is suggested because another direct product of thrombins action, namely the FPA level during reperfusion, did not significantly correlate with cardiac output, cardiac index, systemic vascular resistance index, or central venous pressure (data not shown).
In summary, the antithrombotic protein C pathway was activated during reperfusion after CPB, and low APC formation measured after 10 minutes of reperfusion was associated with decreased myocardial function 24 hours after operation. Thus a rapid increase in APC levels during reperfusion of the heart and other ischemic vascular beds may be an important physiologic antithrombotic defense mechanism against ischemic tissue injury.
| References |
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