Efficiency and mechanisms of the antioxidant effect of standard therapy and refracterin in the treatment of chronic heart failure in elderly patients with postinfarction cardiosclerosis

Refracterin therapy of patients with chronic heart failure caused by coronary heart disease and postinfarction cardiosclerosis markedly promoted improvement in the pulmonary and systemic circulation in comparison with patients receiving traditional therapy. The mean functional class of chronic cardiac failure decreased by 43% under the effect of refracterin vs. 27% decrease in the group receiving traditional therapy. After 1-month refracterin course the end-systolic and end-diastolic sizes of the left ventricle decreased by 12 and 7%, respectively, ejection fraction increased by 7.2% in comparison with the initial level, total oxidant activity and MDA content in the plasma decreased significantly, while total antioxidant activity, catalase and SOD activities, cytochrome C, NADH, and NADPH levels increased. The prooxidant-antioxidant system was shifted towards antioxidants, which attests to activation of the defense and adaptive mechanisms after administration of refracterin, which is especially important in elderly patients with initially decreased reserve potentialities of the antioxidant defense system.Translated from Byulleten Eksperimentalnoi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 138, No. 10, pp. 463–465, October, 2004