Delayed Postconditioning: Not Too Late?

Ischemic postconditioning applied at the onset of reperfusion reduces myocardial infarction in both animals and humans. Our recent study on the mouse myocardium showed for the first time that delayed postconditioning (applied up to 30 min after the onset of reperfusion) can decrease infarct size. The existence of a longer cardioprotection window is conceptually relevant for clinical application and also in the case of a pharmacological strategy.