Figure 1.

Experimental design for microvascular reactivity and endothelial experiment protocols. A, Mouse coronary arterial microvessels (70-100 μm in internal diameter) from the left anterior descending artery dependent subepicardial region of the left ventricle were harvested and assigned to 3 groups: normoxia (sham controls), cardioplegic hypoxia–reoxygenation (1 hour), and cardioplegic hypoxia–reoxygenation (1 hour) with ruboxistaurin treatment. Following normoxia, cardioplegic hypoxia–reoxygenation, and/or ruboxistaurin treatment, microvascular responses to ADP, NS309, and SNP were measured. B, Mouse heart endothelial cells (MHECs) were harvested, and divided into the same 3 groups as were used for the microvascular reactivity study, with the key difference being 3 hours of cardioplegic hypoxia–reoxygenation. Following treatments, patch clamp methods were used to record whole cell potassium currents. ADP, Adenosine diphosphate; SNP, sodium nitroprusside.