Baricitinib enhances donor heart preservation via PPARG upregulation to mitigate mitochondrial injury during static cold storage

Heart transplantation is the gold standard treatment for end-stage heart failure; however, the limited availability of donor hearts significantly restricts the feasibility of allogeneic transplants. Donor hearts with long cold ischemic time are more vulnerable to injury when preserved using standard static cold storage (SCS) techniques, leading to compromised graft function and poorer transplant outcomes. In this study, we screened and identified baricitinib as a mitochondrial protectant capable of mitigating cardiomyocyte mitochondrial damage and improving impaired cardiac function during SCS.