ABSTRACTMuscle necrosis has been frequently observed in cardiomyoplasty patients and in experimental animal studies. The purpose of this study was to determine if heat shock could provide protection to skeletal muscle as has been shown in cardiac muscle. A 15‐minute heat shock at 42°C resulted in an immediate increase in HSP72 mRNA and was followed within 3 hours by a two‐fold increase in HSP72. Surgical dissection of the latissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) followed by an ischemic period resulted in a two‐fold increase in HSP72 in control LDM, whereas the already high levels in the heat‐shocked LDM increased only slightly with surgery and ischemia. Citrate synthase activity and tissue histology indicated that heat shock did not protect the LDM from the imposed surgical trauma and ischemic insults used in th
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