Energy metabolism in myocardial stunning.

We investigated the effect of reversible ischemia, leading to persistent contractile dysfunction (stunning), on myocardial energy metabolism. The balance of energy metabolism is expressed by the phosphorylation state of cytosolic nucleotides. This variable cannot be measured directly because of nucleotide compartmentation, but in the isolated heart it can be estimated by the release of purine catabolites. We have previously shown that increased energy consumption or impaired energy production cause purine release to increase, while primary reduction in energy consumption has the opposite effect. Isolated working rat hearts were reperfused after 10 min of global ischemia, measuring hemodynamic variables, tissue high energy phosphate compounds and purine release. In post-ischemic recovery, aortic flow and minute work decreased to 82 +/- 3% and 77 +/- 4% of control, adenine nucleotide pool was reduced by 4.6 mumol/g dry wt, phosphocreatine to creatine ratio increased significantly and purine release decreased to 42 +/- 6% (P < 0.01). The rate of purine salvage, as evaluated by the incorporation of exogenous 3H-adenosine and 14C-hypoxanthine into tissue nucleotides, was much lower than net purine release, and was unchanged after ischemia and reperfusion. The adenine nucleotide pool could be depleted to the same extent as in the stunned myocardium by prolonged (60 min) aerobic perfusion. In this group the hemodynamic variables were unchanged and purine release averaged 87 +/- 9% of control (P = NS). In other experiments prolonged perfusion was combined with preload reduction in order to decrease energy demand. This protocol reproduced the effects of ischemia-reperfusion: aortic flow and minute work averaged 79 +/- 4% and 73 +/- 9% of control, adenine nucleotide depletion was 4.4 mumol/g dry wt and purine release decreased to 38 +/- 5% (P < 0.01). Our findings support the view that stunning is not due to adenine nucleotide depletion or to impairment in energy production, which would cause purine release to increase, but rather to primary reduction in energy utilization.