Cardiac lymph: monitor of myocardial membrane and vascular alterations

Creatine kinase in the dog: a review

In the dog, creatine kinase (CK) is mostly present in the skeletal muscles, myocardium, brain and intestine. The MM isoenzyme predominates in muscles and myocardium. In plasma, reference values depend on the technique used and CK-MB accounts for about 30-45% of total CK activity. Sex has no influence on plasma CK activity, which is higher in young dogs than in adults. Plasma CK is elevated after physical exercise. After its release from the cells, CK reaches the plasma mostly via the lymphatic route and then remains in the plasma compartment. It is rapidly cleared with a half-life of about 2 hours. Muscle diseases are the main source of plasma CK elevations: inherited myopathies, malignant hyperthermia, hypothyroidism, vitamin E-selenium deficiency, prolonged decubitus, intramuscular injections, surgery, etc. Plasma CK is also increased in experimental myocardial infarction, for which the dog is an interesting model, allowing quantification of the damage by measuring the total CK activity released.

Canine neutrophil activation by cardiac lymph obtained during reperfusion of ischemic myocardium

Cardiac lymph from a canine model of myocardial ischemia and reperfusion was examined for evidence of chemotactic activity. Lymph was continuously collected from awake animals before and during a 60-minute coronary artery occlusion and up to 6 hours after the initiation of reperfusion. It was assessed for the ability to activate the following proinflammatory functions in neutrophils isolated from the blood of healthy dogs: 1) morphological changes characteristic of chemotactic stimulation, which were assessed by phase contrast microscopy, 2) orientation of canine neutrophils in a gradient of cardiac lymph, which was assessed in Zigmond chambers, 3) the binding of monoclonal antibodies reactive with CD11b and CD18 adherence glycoproteins, which was assessed by flow cytometry, and 4) adherence of canine neutrophils to monolayers of canine jugular vein endothelium, which was assessed in vitro by a visual assay. Lymph samples collected after 1 hour of reperfusion in animals demonstrating ECG evidence of ischemia and histological evidence of infarction exhibited significant stimulatory activity for each of the functions tested. Shape change-inducing activity was evaluated at more frequent intervals than other functions and was found to peak at 1 hour after initiation of reperfusion and to disappear by 6 hours. In addition, the CD11b/CD18 levels on neutrophils isolated from cardiac lymph collected during reperfusion were significantly greater than neutrophils obtained before or during occlusion. Animals that failed to exhibit evidence of infarction also failed to exhibit increased stimulatory activity in lymph collected during reperfusion, and surface levels of CD11b/CD18 on neutrophils collected from reperfusion lymph were not elevated. This study provides direct evidence supporting the hypothesis that chemotactic activity is generated in ischemic and reperfused myocardium.

Electrophysiologic effects of intracellular lysophosphoglycerides and their accumulation in cardiac lymph with myocardial ischemia in dogs

Lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) accumulates in ischemic tissue, and exogenous LPC (20-100 microM) induces electrophysiologic alterations in vitro. However, to determine whether compartmentalization is critical, intracellular pressure microinjection of LPC was performed with simultaneous recording of the transmembrane action potential. Intracellular LPC in concentrations as high as 500 microM (n = 18), calculated based on calibration of injectate volume and cellular volume, did not induce electrophysiologic alterations. The concentrations and efflux of phospholipids and lysophospholipids were assessed in lymph obtained from the supracardiac lymph vessel in anesthetized dogs to assess the extent of extracellular accumulation. Prior to ischemia, phosphatidylcholine (PC) was the major phospholipid in lymph (79 +/- 2%) with substantial quantities of sphingomyelin (11 +/- 2%) and LPC (6 +/- 1%). With ischemia, the concentration of LPC increased by 18%, and net efflux of LPC increased by 24% (P less than 0.01) with no net efflux of PC or other assayed phospholipids. The calculated concentration of LPC increased from 84 to 197 microM in lymph within the ischemic region, a concentration sufficient to induce electrophysiologic derangements.

Enzyme activities in thoracic duct lymph and plasma of anaesthetized, conscious resting and exercising dogs

The significance of changes in lymph flow for the extracellular distribution and transport of cellular enzymes and for the level of enzyme activities in plasma was investigated. Specimens of thoracic duct lymph were obtained from an extracorporal lymph shunt in anaesthetized, conscious resting and treadmill exercising dogs (6 km X h-1 for 1 h) The activity of 10 enzymes and of protein content in lymph and plasma were studied, as well as lymph flow, lymphatic transport, and the lymph-plasma ratio of these compounds. Lactate, pH, and blood gases were monitored in venous blood. Lymph flow of 0.80 ml X min-1 in anaesthetized dogs more than doubled (to 1.86 ml X min-1) when the animals were conscious and resting. In anaesthetized dogs lymph enzyme activity was higher only for enzymes of predominately hepatic origin, such as choline esterase (CHE) and alanine aminoferase (ALAT), and was lower for aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) and aldolase (ALD). In conscious dogs, due to activation of the skeletal muscle "tissue pump", lymphatic transport of enzymes with rather high activity in skeletal muscle, and of protein, is significantly enhanced. Enzyme activities in plasma, however, did not differ between the groups. Lymph-plasma activity ratios higher than one were found for lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malate dehydrogenase (MDH), ASAT, creatine kinase (CK), ALD, and phosphohexose isomerase (PHI). Exercise stimulated lymph flow up to 4.9 ml X min-1, and increased the lymphatic activities of those enzymes with a lymph-plasma ratio higher than unity, these enzymes increasing in the plasma due to the highly increased lymphatic transport.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)