Table 1.

Pretreatment of hearts with tocotrienol-rich fraction preserves postischemic proteasome function

	Proteasome Chymotryptic Activity, %Preischemic
Treatment	20S	26S
PreIschemic	100 ± 17	100 ± 15
Ischemia (30 min)	55 ± 10*	54 ± 7*
+ Reperfusion (120 min)	78 ± 16	42 ± 9*
+ Tocotrienol-rich fraction	144 ± 22	152 ± 15
+ Reperfusion (120 min)	102 ± 26	112 ± 45

Isolated hearts perfused in the working mode were perfused with buffer containing tocotrienol-rich fraction (0.035%) for 15 min and subjected to 30 min normothermic global ischemia, followed by 120 min reperfusion. Hearts were harvested and 20S and 26S proteasome activities determined as previously described (114). The values are expressed as the percentage of baseline (20S proteasome, 1,261 ± 210; 26S proteasome, 612 ± 95 fluorescence U·h⁻·mg⁻ protein) and represent means ± SE of 5 to 11 hearts.

^*P < 0.05 (ANOVA) when compared with the preischemic group.