The oxygen wasting effect of isoproterenol is altered by chemical denervation and cardiac hypertrophy

Experimental evaluation of the elastic determinants of myocardial function in vivo

Shortening of myocardial fibers occurs following force development in those fibers. The extent, speed and timing of shortening are determined by kinetics and extent of force. However, shortening is also influenced by the elastance/viscosity of the muscle tissue, because that determines the coupling between force and shortening. In the in vivo dog heart, we estimated that coupling by measuring local myocardial force and fiber shortening independently under various conditions. We determined the effect of positive and negative inotropy (by intracoronary injection of dobutamine and acetylcholine, respectively), and of dysfunctional contraction produced by local ischemia/reperfusion and BDM. Under baseline and both positive and negative intropy, most shortening occurred during systole, and dobutamine increased the proportion of total shortening in early systole from 45.8 +/- 8.5% to 74.9 +/- 9.6%. During reperfusion following ischemia, shortening in early systole was markedly reduced to 16.5 +/- 2.9; BDM caused a similar reduction to 16.5 +/- 8.1. Most of the shortening occurred during early diastole (53.0 +/- 6.8 for reperfusion, and 54.0 +/- 10.3 for BDM). These effects were all reversible. It is concluded that energetic efficiency is greatly affected by the elastic properties coupling force and shortening. Thus appropriate analysis of muscle function must take into account the changeable elastic properties of the tissue-both force and shortening, and their interaction must be considered.

Characteristic dysfunction of stunned myocardium induced by 2,3-butanedione monoxime without ischaemia

1. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that, even in the absence of prior ischaemia, 2,3-butanedione monoxime (BDM), an inhibitor of contraction at the actin-myosin level, could produce the postischaemic dysfunction characteristic of stunned myocardium. 2,3-Butanedione monoxime was injected directly into the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) before and again after myocardial stunning produced by 15 min occlusion of the LAD followed by 30 min reperfusion. 2. Regional myocardial force, segment shortening and regional work were measured in both the LAD-perfused area and the area perfused by the circumflex coronary artery, which served as a control area. Regional dysfunction produced by BDM injection or ischaemia-reperfusion was assessed quantitatively by five parameters: end-diastolic length (EDL), shortening onset delay (delay), systolic bulge (bulge), end-shortening time delay (EST) and tail work ratio (TWR). 3. It was found that injection of BDM into the LAD caused dyskinesis similar to that caused by occlusion-reperfusion. Both displayed elevated EDL and marked increases in delay, bulge, EST and TWR; these parameters were significantly higher in the dyskinesis caused by BDM injection. Despite dysfunctional fibre shortening, intracoronary BDM injection did not reduce regional force. 4. Thus, BDM can elicit changes similar to those characteristic of postischaemic dysfunction. Because contractility was not impaired, dysfunction was apparently caused by disrupting the association between contractile force and muscle motion.

Inhibition of PKC phosphorylation of cTnI improves cardiac performance in vivo

Protein kinase C (PKC) modulates cardiomyocyte function by phosphorylation of intracellular targets including myofilament proteins. Data generated from studies on in vitro heart preparations indicate that PKC phosphorylation of troponin I (TnI), primarily via PKC-epsilon, may slow the rates of cardiac contraction and relaxation (+dP/dt and -dP/dt). To explore this issue in vivo, we employed transgenic mice [mutant TnI (mTnI) mice] in which the major PKC phosphorylation sites on cardiac TnI were mutated by alanine substitutions for Ser(43) and Ser(45) and studied in situ hemodynamics at baseline and increased inotropy. Hearts from mTnI mice exhibited increased contractility, as shown by a 30% greater +dP/dt and 18% greater -dP/dt than FVB hearts, and had a negligible response to isoproterenol compared with FVB mice, in which +dP/dt increased by 33% and -dP/dt increased by 26%. Treatment with phenylephrine and propranolol gave a similar result; FVB mouse hearts demonstrated a 20% increase in developed pressure, whereas mTnI mice showed no response. Back phosphorylation of TnI from mTnI hearts demonstrated that the mutation of the PKC sites was associated with an enhanced PKA-dependent phosphorylation independent of a change in basal cAMP levels. Our results demonstrate the important role that PKC-dependent phosphorylation of TnI has on the modulation of cardiac function under basal as well as augmented states and indicate interdependence of the phosphorylation sites of TnI in hearts beating in situ.

Effects of ageing on the activation metabolism of rat papillary muscles

1. A myothermic technique has been used to investigate the mechanics and energetics of left ventricular papillary muscles from 6-, 15-, 22- and 27-32-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats. 2. There was a significant increase in the left ventricular mass to body mass (LVM:BM) ratio in the senescent. 27-32-month-old group of animals compared with the younger animals (P<0.05). 3. The maximum stress developed in the senescent groups was reduced by almost 40% in comparison with the stress developed by the 6-, 15- and 22-month-old groups (P<0.001). The mean rise time, half relaxation time and half width were increased significantly (P<0.05) in the 22-month-old group but, unexpectedly, this effect was not seen in the senescent group. 4. Heat production per beat versus total stress relationships were obtained in two different ways to determine the magnitude of the activation heat and the isometric economy (given by the slope of the relationship). The activation heat was not significantly different between groups with either method, but there was a significant increase (P<0.001) in the economy with which stress was developed in the senescent group in comparison with the 6- and 15-month-old groups. 5. A combination of forskolin (2.5-6.5 micromol/L) and high Ca2+ (7.5 mmol/L) was used to increase the energy usage per beat. In the 6- and 15-month-old groups, these agents caused a four-fold increase in the activation heat magnitude compared with a less than two-fold increase in the 22-month-old and senescent groups (P<0.001). There was no effect of forskolin/high calcium on the slope of the heat:total stress relationship. 6. The data suggest that, under conditions known to increase cardiac contractility, there is a reduced ability to cycle calcium in the 22-month-old and senescent groups relative to the young adult 6-month-old and adult 15-month-old groups.

Dobutamine enhances both contractile function and energy reserves in hypoperfused canine right ventricle

Although the beta(1)-adrenergic agent dobutamine is used clinically to provide inotropic support to the failing myocardium, it could jeopardize the myocardium by depleting energy reserves. This investigation delineated the contractile and energetic effects of low versus high dobutamine doses in the hypoperfused right ventricular (RV) myocardium. The right coronary artery (RCA) of anesthetized dogs was cannulated for controlled perfusion with arterial blood, and regional RV contractile function was measured. RCA perfusion pressure was lowered from 100 mmHg baseline to 40 mmHg, and flow fell by 54%. At 15-min hypoperfusion, dobutamine was infused into the RCA at either 0.01 (low-dose dobutamine) or 0.06 microgram. kg(-1). min(-1) (high-dose dobutamine) for 15 min. Regional power (systolic segment shortening x isometric developed force x heart rate) stabilized at 63% of baseline during hypoperfusion. Low-dose dobutamine restored power to baseline but did not increase RV myocardial O(2) consumption (MVO(2)) and thus increased myocardial O(2) utilization efficiency (O(2)UE:power/MVO(2)). At 5 min, high-dose dobutamine enhancement of power was similar to that of low-dose dobutamine, but by 15 min, power and O(2)UE fell to untreated levels. Remarkably, low-dose dobutamine tripled cytosolic phosphorylation potential; in contrast, high-dose dobutamine lowered phosphorylation potential to 45% of the untreated value. Analyses of glucose uptake and glycolytic intermediates revealed sustained enhancement of glycolysis by low-dose dobutamine, but glycolysis became limited at glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase during high-dose dobutamine treatment. In summary, low-dose dobutamine improved mechanical performance and efficiency of the hypoperfused RV myocardium while increasing myocardial energy reserves, but high-dose dobutamine failed to sustain improved function and depleted energy reserves. Dobutamine is capable of improving both contractile function and cellular energetics in the hypoperfused RV myocardium, but dosage should be carefully selected.

Positive functional effects of milrinone and methylene blue are not additive in control and hypertrophic canine hearts

This study was designed to test whether increased inotropy caused by raising intracellular cAMP would add to the positive inotropy caused by reducing cGMP and whether this relationship was affected by experimental hypertrophy. We used open chest anesthetized dogs with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) induced by valvular aortic stenosis and age matched controls (CON). Hearts were instrumented to measure local segment shortening, force, and regional work. Milrinone (MIL), a selective cyclic AMP-phosphodiesterase inhibitor, and methylene blue (MB), a guanylate cyclase inhibitor, were used to alter cAMP and cGMP levels. Ten CON and 11 LVH animals were randomly assigned to receive first either MIL (1 microg/kg/min) or MB (2 mg/kg/min) intracoronary (i.c.) infusion. After 10 min, simultaneous i.c. infusion of the other agent was begun. MIL increased regional minute work (g x mm/min) in both CON (1311 +/- 207 to 2072 +/- 285) and LVH (1052 +/- 136 to 1371 +/- 351) hearts. MB did not increase work significantly, but did increase contractile force. MIL + MB increased work from baseline; however, the combination did not increase work more than either agent alone (1961 +/- 510 CON; 1390 +/- 285 LVH). Myocardial cAMP levels (pmol/g) were significantly increased by MIL in both CON (329 +/- 53 to 437 +/- 13) and LVH hearts (351 +/- 67 to 538 +/- 32), and the addition of MB further raised cAMP (879 +/- 115 CON; 741 +/- 96 LVH). MB resulted in decreased myocardial cGMP (pmol/g) (3.20 +/- 0.61 to 2.16 +/- 0.92 CON; 5.21 +/- 1.15 to 2.46 +/- 0.56 LVH), while MIL increased cGMP (3.20 +/- 0.61 to 6.24 +/- 1.79 CON; 5.21 +/- 1.15 to 6.53 +/- 0.41 LVH). Both MIL and MB caused increases in O2 consumption, with MIL + MB together increasing O2 consumption further. The current findings demonstrate a potentiation of cAMP production in the presence of MIL + MB above either agent alone, but this did not lead to potentiation of positive functional effects. High levels of cGMP caused by milrinone may have limited the positive functional effects of cAMP.