Table 1. Microvascular obstruction triggers: analysis of experimental data.

Hypothetical trigger	Species	Experimental model	Effect	Ref.
Endothelial cell injury	Dog	CAO in vivo	Ultrastructural damage of cardiomyocytes, microvascular injury	[22]
	Rat	Isolated heart	Decreased capillary lumen, endothelial edema	[24]
	Guinea pig	Isolated heart	Glycocalyx injury, endothelial cell dysfunction	[25–26]
Microembolization and microthrombi	Dog	CAO and reperfusion in vivo	Insignificant decrease in CBF	[27]
	Rabbit	Isolated heart	MVO occurred without thrombosis, platelets and leukocytes	[32]
	Rat	Isolated heart	No-reflow area formation	[33]
	Rat	Isolated heart	CBF decreased in LV outer layers	[34–35]
Leukocyte invasion	Rat	Isolated heart	Decrease in the number of perfused capillaries (approximately 62%)	[81]
	Rabbit	CAO and reperfusion in vivo	CY1503 did not reduce infarct size or no-reflow	[82]
	Rat	Isolated heart	Platelets and neutrophils injured coronary arteries in reperfusion	[83]
	Dog	CAO and reperfusion in vivo	R15.7 reduced infarct size and the no-reflow area	[53]
	Human	HUVEC, Hypoxia/reoxygenation	Induction of adhesion of neutrophils, ZM-241385 abolished adhesion	[66]
	Rat	CAO and reperfusion in vivo	Correlation of MPO with no reflow area	[84]
Platelet aggregation	Rabbit	CAO and reperfusion in vivo	Platelets were involved in the pathogenesis of MVO in animals with hypercholesterolemia	[37]
	Minipig	CAO and reperfusion in vivo	Tirofiban reduced the MVO area. A Combination of clopidogrel + aspirin had no effect on the MVO area	[39]
	Rat	Isolated heart	An increase in CPP	[40]
	Rat	Isolated heart	Platelets reduced infarct size, activated ERK1/2	[41]
Coronary artery dysfunction	Dog	CAO and reperfusion in vivo	Decreased acetylcholine-induced vasodilation. Verapamil reduced impaired vascular relaxation.	[42]
	Dog	CAO and reperfusion in vivo	Disruption of endothelium-dependent vasodilation of the infarcted coronary artery	[43]
	Cat	CAO and reperfusion in vivo	Decrease in vasodilation caused by acetylcholine. A23187-induced vasodilation was reduced by reperfusion. SOD improved acetylcholine-induced vascular relaxation	[44]
	Pig	Isolated intramyocardial ring of arteries	Reduced vasodilation triggered by bradykinin	[46]
Pericytes	Rat	CAO and reperfusion in vivo	I/R blocked blood flow in 40% of capillaries	[47]
	Mouse	CAO and reperfusion in vivo	GPR39 knockout reduced the no-reflow area, VC43 also reduced MVO	[48]