Myocardial necrosis induced by temporary occlusion of a coronary artery in the dog
R. B. Jennings, H. M. Sommers, G. A. Smyth, H. A. Flack, H. Linn

In 1960, Robert Jennings and colleagues asked the very simple question, “When does tissue actually die after a coronary artery occlusion?” There were much anecdotal data indicating hearts could survive short periods of coronary occlusion...

Depression of regional blood flow and wall thickening after brief coronary occlusions
G. R. Heyndrickx, H. Baig, P. Nellens, M. C. Fishbein, S. F. Vatner

As more and more investigators became interested in protecting the heart against ischemic injury in the 1970s, the isolated rat heart in which postischemic recovery of mechanical function was the end point became popular...

The “wavefront phenomenon” of myocardial ischemic cell death. II. Transmural progression of necrosis within the framework of ischemic bed size (myocardium at risk) and collateral flow
K. A. Reimer, R. B. Jennings

In 1971, Maroko and colleagues (Circulation 1971; 43:67-82) reported ß-blockade limited necrosis in dogs with coronary occlusions. They concluded cardiologists could improve long-term survival in their patients with an intervention that limited necrosis...

The stunned myocardium: prolonged, postischemic ventricular dysfunction
E. Braunwald and R. A. Kloner

The physician-scientist has always been needed for the critical job of translating basic findings into clinical practice, and a prime example of this is reflected in the editorial/review on myocardial stunning by Braunwald and Kloner in 1982...

Effects of the selective thromboxane synthetase inhibitor dazoxiben on variations in cyclic blood flow in stenosed canine coronary arteries
L. R. Bush, W. B. Campbell, L. M. Buja, G. D. Tilton, J. T. Willerson

Although intracoronary thrombosis at the site of a ruptured plaque is now recognized to be the culprit in myocardial infarction, platelet aggregation is also considered to play a pathophysiologic role in acute coronary syndromes...

Myocardial reperfusion: a double-edged sword
E. Braunwald; R. A. Kloner

One of the most contentious issues in ischemia has been the proposed existence of reperfusion injury. By 1985, reperfusion therapy for acute myocardial infarction was in full swing...

Effectiveness of intravenous thrombolytic treatment in acute myocardial infarction
Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Streptochinasi nell’Infarto Miocardico (GISSI)

One of the obvious ramifications of the wavefront study by Reimer and Jennings (see page 322) was that if myocardium were to be salvaged, it had to be reperfused, and the sooner the better...

Preconditioning with ischemia: a delay of lethal cell injury in ischemic myocardium
C. E Murry, R. B. Jennings, K. A. Reimer

Through 1985 no strong candidate for a cardioprotective intervention other than early reperfusion itself had been introduced. Many investigators began to suspect that it might even be theoretically impossible to alter a heart’s vulnerability to infarction...

Demonstration of free radical generation in “stunned” myocardium of intact dogs with the use of the spin trap alpha-phenyl N-tert-butyl nitrone
R. Bolli, B. S. Patel, M. O. Jeroudi, E. K. Lai, P. B. McCay

After the description of myocardial stunning, it made perfect sense that short periods of ischemia stunned the heart and longer periods killed it...

Medical and cellular implications of stunning, hibernation, and preconditioning: an NHLBI workshop
R. A. Kloner, R. Bolli, E. Marban, L. Reinlib, E. Braunwald

In 1996, a group of highly talented investigators were invited to Columbia, Maryland, just outside Bethesda, where the current state of cardioprotection was assessed and future directions contemplated. In those days, ischemia session programmers for scientific meetings always concentrated on the “Big 3”: stunning, preconditioning, and hibernation...