Enhanced lipolysis of myocardial triglycerides during low-flow ischemia and anoxia in the isolated rat heart

Summary We studied lipolysis in the isolated rat heart, measured as glycerol release during anoxia, low-flow ischemia and subsequent reperfusion. It was found that the rate of lipolysis was enhanced during ischemia/anoxia while the lipase activities in tissue extracts involved in the myocardial lipolysis and the amount of triglycerides were not affected. This indicates the dominant occurrence of a lipolysisreesterification principle in ischemic and anoxic tissue. A common observation of ischemia/anoxia is an increase in the tissue NADH/NAD⁺ ratio. Therefore we investigated the effect of lactate and malate, both of which enhance the tissue redox state on myocardial lipolysis. Perfusion in the presence of lactate (10 mM) and malate (10 mM) both stimulated myocardial lipolysis by about five times. This suggests that the rate of reesterification of product fatty acids to triglycerides, which is determined by the NADH/NAD⁺ ratio, because of the increased formation of glycerol 3-phosphate from dihydroxy acetone phosphate, plays an important role in the regulation of lipolysis. The existence of triglyceridefatty acid-triglyceride cycle is discussed.