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Biomedical subjects

W Schaper

Publications and source records attributed to W Schaper.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Time course of myocardial necrosis.

The time course of myocardial ischemia was studied in canine myocardium by electron microscopy. Ischemia of the myocardium produces ultrastructural alterations of mitochondria, nuclei, contractile apparatus, and the SR- and T-tubular system that are accompanied by loss of glycogen and intracellular edema. These changes are more pronounced with increasing severity of ischemia, and they allow the differentiation between different stages of reversible and of irreversible injury. Reperfusion of reversibly injured tissue leads to structural recovery; reperfusion of irreversibly injured tissue produces further deterioration. On the basis of ultrastructural data, it was found that in a dog, after 45 minutes of coronary artery occlusion, subendocardial infarction was present in 20% of all animals. Transmural infarction was present in 24% of all dogs after 90 minutes of coronary artery occlusion and in 53% after 24 hours. The individual variability in the speed of development of infarction is caused by the rate of oxygen consumption at the time of occlusion and by the amount of collateral flow. Intermittent ischemia is much better tolerated than permanent ischemia of the same duration. Species differences are evident. The course of development of myocardial necrosis, therefore, depends on time, rate of oxygen consumption, collateral flow, mode of ischemia, and on the species investigated.

Coronary Disease↗

Enhanced postischemic ATP repletion by pharmacological inhibition of nucleoside washout and catabolism.

We tested the hypothesis that inhibition of adenosine transport by dipyridamole and inhibition of adenosine deamination by erythro-9-(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl)adenine (EHNA) prevents nucleoside loss and stimulates postischemic ATP-repletion. In an open chest canine model, dipyridamole (0.5 mg/kg/h) and EHNA (5 mg/kg/h) were infused intra-atrially during a coronary occlusion period of 45 min and a reperfusion period of 180 min. Transmural needle biopsies, obtained during the ischemic period and within the reperfusion period, were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography for adenine nucleotides and adenosine, inosine, xanthine, and hypoxanthine as well as creatine phosphate. During ischemia and under the influence of dipyridamole plus EHNA, 56% of the catabolized adenine nucleotides were recovered stoichiometrically as adenosine, whereas in the untreated group less than 10% of the nucleotides were recovered as adenosine because of rapid deamination to inosine. In the control group, ATP levels decreased during ischemia from control values of 5.25 +/- 0.28 microns/g to 2.01 +/- 0.18 microns/g. In the group treated with dipyridamole and EHNA, ATP levels fell to 2.2 +/- 0.22 microns/g but rose to 3.22 +/- 0.29 microns/g within 180 min of reperfusion, whereas in the untreated control group tissue levels of ATP did not increase. However, a significant proportion of the adenosine accumulated during ischemia under the influence of dipyridamole plus EHNA was not used for the restoration of the ATP level during reperfusion. A significant amount of adenosine was probably trapped in the interstitial space and could not be transported back into the myocytes in the presence of dipyridamole during reperfusion. In both groups, creatine phosphate levels were restored to normal levels during reperfusion.

Adenine Nucleotides↗

Influence of collateral blood flow and of variations in MVO2 on tissue-ATP content in ischemic and infarcted myocardium.

The left anterior descending coronary artery was occluded for 22.5, 45, 90, 180, and 360 mins in anesthesized open-chest dogs and pigs and thereafter reperfused for 30 min. Myocardial oxygen consumption was varied in dogs by cholinergic stimulation (bradycardia) and by cutting of the right and left vagus nerve (tachycardia). Regional myocardial blood flow was measured with radioactive tracer microspheres at the end of the occlusion period and 5 and 30 min after reflow. Tissue content of adenine nucleotides and of phosphocreatine were determined in the subendo- and subepicardium of transmural biopsies at the end of reflow. Infarct size was determined with nitrobluetetrazolium and compared with risk region size. Porcine hearts developed infarcts sooner. Those canines with a high MVO2 due to tachycardia had larger infarcts than those with bradycardia and resembled infarct development in the pig. The evolution of infarcts with time depended strongly on collateral flow which was significantly higher in canine hearts. Higher collateral flow and lower MVO2 in one group of canine hearts also resulted in better preserved tissue ATP. The fall in tissue ATP with time after coronary occlusion was compared with the O2-supply via collateral flow during occlusion. Assuming that the oxygen entering ischemic myocardium was used for ADP phosphorylation, we could estimate the degree of ATP-"overspending". Overspending was highest in low-flow ischemia and it correlated well with the speed of infarction. The ATP-data are best explained by the phosphocreatine energy shuttle model and by assuming slow access of cytosolic ATP to the ATP-splitting sites at the myofibrils. In conclusion, we postulate that both collateral flow as well as myocardial oxygen consumption before and during occlusion determine infarct size.

Adenine Nucleotides↗

Influence of mioflazine on canine coronary blood flow and on adenine nucleotide and nucleoside content under normal and ischemic conditions.

Intravenous injection of mioflazine, a nucleoside transport antagonist, caused maximal coronary vasodilation in canine hearts. This was completely reversed by intravenous injection of the enzyme adenosine deaminase. Coronary vasodilation was induced again by the adenosine deaminase inhibitor EHNA [Erythro-9(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl)adenine]; however, without previous injection of mioflazine, EHNA did not produce coronary vasodilation. Mioflazine-induced coronary vasodilation was antagonized by theophylline, but it was not associated with increased plasma levels of adenosine. Under the influence of mioflazine, ischemic myocardium contained adenosine and inosine at a ratio of 65:30, which is the reverse of the control ratio. Total nucleoside content following mioflazine showed reduced nucleoside losses as compared with control. A significant amount of the accumulated adenosine is extracellular since it was accessible to exogenous adenosine deaminase. Reperfusion of ischemic myocardium did not result in increased rates of adenosine phosphorylation, another indicator of its extracellular accumulation. The data are best explained by assuming release of adenosine by mioflazine in addition to its known effect of inhibiting nucleoside transport. The adenosine release occurs most probably into the interstitial space where it occupies smooth muscle adenosine receptors. The existence of nonsymmetric transport (uptake is more inhibited than release) is postulated for the myocyte, as well as for the endothelial cell plasma membrane.

Adenine Nucleotides↗

Relation between reversal of diastolic creep and recovery of systolic function after ischemic myocardial injury in conscious dogs.

Although prolonged functional abnormalities after transient myocardial ischemia have been well described, the interrelationship between postischemic systolic and diastolic alterations remains controversial. Therefore, 24 chronically instrumented conscious dogs were studied with left ventricular and pleural micromanometers, ultrasonic dimension transducers in the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary distribution, and vena caval and coronary artery occluders. The LAD was occluded for 15 minutes and reperfused for 24 hours while vena caval occlusions were performed at intervals to measure myocardial segment length at 0 mm Hg transmural diastolic left ventricular pressure (L0). Coronary occlusion produced an immediate fall in systolic function as assessed by ejection shortening and stroke work and also induced a 16 +/- 4% increase in L0, which was termed diastolic creep. Throughout reperfusion, reversal of diastolic abnormalities correlated strongly with recovery of segmental shortening and stroke work (p less than 0.001). Correlation between systolic dysfunction and diastolic creep was also observed during alteration of inotropic state by dopamine, during initial reperfusion hyperfunction, and during pharmacologic manipulation of afterload. In 5 additional dog hearts fixed in diastole by rapid glutaraldehyde infusion after coronary occlusion, myocardial creep measured by the segment length transducers paralleled sarcomere elongation measured by electron microscopy. Thus, the direct correlation between diastolic creep and systolic dysfunction throughout reperfusion and during hemodynamic alterations suggests that diastolic properties of postischemic myocardium may not be entirely passive and that systolic and diastolic dysfunction induced by ischemia may have a common basis at the cellular level.

Animals↗

Reversibly injured, postischemic canine myocardium retains normal contractile reserve.

Transient coronary occlusion (15 minutes) does not result in irreversible myocardial injury but is associated with a depression of contractile function sustained for several hours to days ("stunned myocardium"). The defect in the contractile process responsible for this phenomenon has been suggested to be causally related to a reduced energetic state, altered excitation or excitation-contraction coupling, or damaged contractile filaments. The purpose of this study was to attempt to exclude one or more of these hypotheses by evaluating the contractile reserve of reperfused myocardium. Regional subendocardial segment function was measured (sonomicrometry) in a control region and in an area (treatment region) perfused by a carotid artery to anterior descending coronary artery bypass in 13 chloralose-anesthetized dogs. Dose-response curves were constructed from changes in segment shortening (%SS) in response to intracoronary calcium infusion before ischemia and following 5 or 15 minutes of occlusion and reperfusion (30 minutes). Calcium infusion before ischemia resulted in dose-dependent increases in %SS in the treatment area to a maximum value of 36.6% from a preinfusion value of 25.5% (p less than 0.01), in the absence of changes in control region shortening (23.7%). After 15 minutes of occlusion and reperfusion, treatment area %SS had fallen to a depressed but stable level (46% of preischemic values; p less than 0.01). Subsequent calcium infusion at the same doses as in the preischemic trial produced increases in treatment segment function with return of shortening to control levels at an intermediate dose. At the highest dose, %SS was 35.4%, which was not different from the maximal value found in the preischemic trial. Alterations in heart rate and left ventricular systolic and diastolic pressures during calcium infusion were minor and similar before and after ischemia. Calcium-induced increases in regional segment shortening above control levels (113% of control) in reperfused myocardium were sustained with continuous infusion (30 minutes) without deleterious effects on subsequent function. These results demonstrate that stunned myocardium in this model retains a normal contractile reserve in response to calcium, suggesting that the mechanism responsible for postischemic contractile dysfunction involves calcium.

Animals↗

Myocardial protection of hypertrophied hearts by administration of cardioplegia according to regional myocardial temperature.

Hypertrophied hearts are known to be extremely vulnerable to ischemia. During cardioplegic arrest different regional myocardial temperature are known to occur. We investigated myocardial protection in 61 patients with aortic valve disease undergoing aortic valve replacement. Three different cardioplegic solutions were used. Regional myocardial temperature was continuously controlled and adjusted to a temperature of not more than 15 degrees C by intermittend infusion of cardioplegia. Before, after heart arrest and after 10 minutes of reperfusion we did myocardial biopsies and determined high energy phosphates and lactate. From our results we conclude that three cardioplegic solutions were able to protect hypertrophied hearts adequate during an ischemic period of 60 minutes if the regional myocardial temperature does not increase above 15 degrees C.

Body Temperature↗

[Pathophysiology of reperfusion].

We investigated the influence of time after coronary occlusion, of myocardial O2-demand, and of collateral blood flow upon the amount of myocardium that can be salvaged by reperfusion. These studies were carried out in species of mammalian heart that differed widely in the availability of collateral blood flow and in MVO2, i.e. dogs, pigs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, and rats. In canines, we increased MVO2 before coronary occlusion by bilateral vagotomy. We found that hearts with measurable collateral blood flow had a markedly increased tolerance toward ischemia and vice versa. Ranking the species from high to low collateral flow (guinea pig, cat, dog, pig, rat) displays the same order when ranked for infarction. In the guinea pig, collateral blood flow was so high that we were unable to produce infarction by coronary ligation. The infarction process was the most rapid in pigs (= 45 min after occlusion) and rats (= 20-45 min after coronary occlusion). Increasing the MVO2 by vagolytic tachycardia markedly decreased the tolerance toward ischemia in the canine heart. We conclude from our experiments that reperfusion is the most powerful intervention to salvage ischemic myocardium, provided it is carried out within the period of reversible ischemic injury. With very low collateral blood flow (as expected to be present in young men with no previous manifestation of ischemic heart disease) this interval of reversibility may be about one hour after coronary occlusion and it is probably shorter in the presence of tachycardia and reduced perfusion pressure.

Animals↗

Protection of the hypertrophied human heart by adjusting regional myocardial temperature to a safe level.

Uneven distribution of temperature and the persistence of electro-mechanical activity after aortic cross-clamping are 2 factors limiting the myocardial protection during cardioplegic arrest, especially in hypertrophied hearts which are known to be extremely vulnerable to ischemia. In the present study regional myocardial temperature (T) was continuously controlled, and the time until arrest occurred (delta t) was determined in 61 patients undergoing aortic valve replacement. In addition, the myocardial contents of high energy phosphates and lactate were assessed. Three different cardioplegic solutions were employed: In the first group we used Bretschneider solution (Br), in the second group St. Thomas' solution (St), and in the third group the so-called "Hamburg cardioplegia" (H). During cardiac arrest the regional myocardial temperature was adjusted to temperatures not exceeding 15 degrees C by intermittent infusions of cold cardioplegic solution. We found a positive correlation between left ventricular muscle mass (LVMM) and delta t. A negative correlation existed between LVMM and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) contents at the end of the ischemic period. The cooling characteristics and delta t were significantly longer and the cooling to 15 degrees C was less rapid when H was used. Adenosine-triphosphate contents were well preserved during ischemia in all 3 groups. We conclude that all 3 cardioplegic solutions tested protect the hypertrophied myocardium adequately if the regional myocardial temperature does not increase above 15 degrees C during cardiac arrest. Hearts with a higher LVMM showed a decreased myocardial ATP content at the end of the ischemic period. Therefore, the LVMM may limit myocardial protection.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

Heterogeneity in the coronary circulation.

The blood flow to the subendocardial layers of the left ventricle is approximately 10% higher than that to the outer layers. The larger subendocardial blood flow reserve results from a higher vascular density within that layer. The systolic coronary inflow is the result of the net forward flow and a concealed backflow. The blood flow at the microcirculatory level is not homogeneous, as certain interventions can recruit "dormant" capillaries. When coronary artery occlusion occurs, the resistance of the collateral channels, which is high, becomes the major determinant of the blood flow to the ischemic tissues. The blood flow in such ischemic tissues is heterogeneous, as the extravascular forces on these collateral channels vary. Reperfusion after occlusion is characterized by marked heterogeneity. If reflow is reinstituted late after cell death, the sudden rush of blood under normal pressure ruptures the microvessels, resulting in hemorrhagic infarction and the no-reflow phenomenon.

Animals↗

Influence of ribose, adenosine, and "AICAR" on the rate of myocardial adenosine triphosphate synthesis during reperfusion after coronary artery occlusion in the dog.

Recovery of adenosine triphosphate after myocardial ischemia is limited by the slow adenine nucleotide de novo synthesis and the availability of precursors of the nucleotide salvage pathways. We determined the adenine nucleotide de novo synthesis in the dog by infusion of [14C]glycine and the acceleration of adenine nucleotide built up by intracoronary infusion of ribose together with [14C]glycine or radiolabeled 5-amino-4-imidazolcarboxamide riboside or adenosine in the same animal model and with the same dosage of substrates (9 mmol) in postischemic and nonischemic myocardial tissue. After 45 minutes of occlusion of a side branch of the left coronary artery, the ischemic area was reperfused for 3 hours, and needle biopsies were taken for biochemical analysis. Adenine nucleotide de novo synthesis was found to be very slow (1.5 nmol/g wet weight per hour). The rate was doubled after ischemia. Adenine nucleotide synthesis was accelerated 5-fold by ribose, the basic substrate of the adenine nucleotide de novo synthesis, 9-fold by 5-amino-4-imidazolcarboxamide riboside, an intermediate of the adenine nucleotide de novo synthesis and 90-fold by adenosine, a substrate of the nucleotide salvage pathway. Therefore, only adenosine infusion resulted in a measurable increase of adenosine triphosphate levels after 3 hours of reperfusion, but over a longer time period, ribose or 5-amino-4-imidazol-carboxamide riboside also can be expected to replenish reduced myocardial adenosine triphosphate faster than adenine nucleotide de novo synthesis. Studies with radiolabeled 5-amino-4-imidazol-carboxamide riboside showed significant incorporation of radioactivity into 5-amino-4-imidazol-carboxamide ribose triphosphate which had also risen measurably during 5-amino-4-imidazol-carboxamide ribose infusion, and which is not normally found in heart muscle.

Adenosine↗

[Hemodynamics of coronary stenoses].

Under physiological conditions the resistance component of large epicardial coronary branches is very small in relation to total coronary resistance and can be neglected. The pressure losses across minor stenoses can be compensated by a decrease of resistance in the more peripheral coronary bed (autoregulation). This compensatory mechanism is limited to luminal obstructions less than 85%. Above this limit, when collateral vessels are not available, perfusion of the periphery becomes a function of the flow across the stenosis. As a consequence coronary reserve becomes abolished with an increasing obstruction. Coronary reserve describes an increase of coronary flow up to a factor of five, which, under normal conditions, is induced by dilation of resistors (arterioles) in the coronary bed. After exhaustion of coronary reserve the hemodynamic impact of a vascular narrowing can be expressed as the pressure loss across a coronary lesion (delta p). delta p is composed of viscous losses (AV) that are in linear relation to flow and inertial components that are related to the square of flow (B). Accordingly pressure loss across a stenosis can be expressed in a general form as delta p = AV X Q + B X Q2. In vitro data show that an approximation of delta p can be calculated on the basis of stenosis geometry including normal and minimal diameter, length, angle of entrance and exit, velocity of flow, viscosity and density of blood. Pressure losses across a stenosis can be divided in three components: the entrance, the narrow part, and the exit. Turbulence arises at the exit. This fact leads to a variable interaction of consecutive vascular lesions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗