The isolated rat heart is an enduring model for ischemia reperfusion injury. Here, we describe the process of harvesting the beating heart from a rat via in situ aortic cannulation, Langendorff perfusion of the heart, simulated ischemia-reperfusion injury, and infarct staining to confirm the extent of ischemic insult.
Herr, D. J., Aune, S. E., Menick, D. R. Induction and Assessment of Ischemia-reperfusion Injury in Langendorff-perfused Rat Hearts. J. Vis. Exp. (101), e52908, doi:10.3791/52908 (2015).