Failure of acetyl salicylic acid (aspirin) to reduce experimental myocardial ischaemic damage.
Rats fed on acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) 1.5 mg/100 g body weight for a period of three weeks were subjected to myocardial infarction by s.c. administration isoprenaline hydrochloride 8.5 mg/100 g of body weight on two consecutive days. Heart specimens were taken for histological examination at 24 hr, on 5th day and 12th day. An equal number of rats were given saline to serve as control. As compared to controls aspirin-treated rats were found to have macroscopically bigger infarcts and microscopically showed persistent oedema on the 12th day. Further, no histological evidence of favourable action of aspirin was seen on the fifth day and after twenty-four hr.