Proteomic approaches to assess ischemia-reperfusion (stunning) injury to the heart

The reintroduction of blood supply to ischemic heart muscle results in ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury [1]. One form of IR injury is myocardial stunning caused by a short (~20 min) duration of ischemia followed by reperfusion. Although cell death is not involved, the mechanism of stunning injury is not fully understood. Part of the damage is caused by the activation of proteases, including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). For example, MMP-2 cleaves intracellular proteins in cardiac myocytes, including cardiac troponin I, titin, sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase2a and junctophilin-2 [2].