Myocardial apoptosis prevention by radical-scavenging in cardiac surgery patients: Anti-aging therapy for the heart?

Objectives: Reactive oxygen-derived species (ROS) including those generated during myocardial ischemia and reperfusion induced by cardioplegia have been suggested to be involved in myocardial apoptosis induction. The purpose of our study was to investigate (1) if cardioplegic arrest initiates apoptosis in hearts of cardiac surgery patients, and (2) if ROS-scavenging with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) attenuates myocardial apoptosis initiation.