Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury Research

Ischemia/Reperfusion (I/R) injury is defined as the cellular damage that results from a period of ischemia that is followed by the reestablishment of the blood supply to the infarcted tissue.Myocardial ischemia, also known as cardiac ischemia, is defined as the deprivation of oxygen and nutrients to the heart. This phenomenon occurs during a myocardial infarction, when an occlusive thrombus within a coronary artery prevents blood supply to the myocardium, but can also occur during cardiac surgery as a result of pharmacological intervention to temporarily stop the heart. Reperfusion restores blood supply to ischemic tissue, but this is paradoxically associated with further tissue damage.