Effect of cardiac sympathetic nerve stimulation on acutely ischemic myocardium. A comparison with the response to exogenous noradrenaline.

Abstract

To assess the integrity of an adrenergic nervous function in acute myocardial ischemia, the contractile response of the ischemic region to cardiac sympathetic nervous stimulation (CSNS) was measured in comparison that with to exogenous noradrenaline (NA) infusion. In 13 anesthetized open chest mongrel dogs, haemodynamic changes, segmental wall motion, and the concentration of NA in the efferent coronary vein were measured. CSNS was performed by electrically stimulating the left ansa subclavia. Data concerning baseline values, values during CSNS, and those obtained during NA infusion both before and up to 5 h after coronary occlusion were compared. Regional myocardial blood flow of the ischemic region was also measured using the H+ clearance method. Systolic expansion with coronary occlusion was not changed or augmented by CSNS. However, improvement was observed in all experiments when NA infusion was used. The percent change of systolic shortening, indicating the response of segmental wall motion to CSNS, decreased soon after occlusion, recovered temporarily within 30 min after occlusion, but did not improve throughout the period after 60 min. The decrease of NA overflow into the efferent vein by CSNS showed a biphasic pattern; reduction occurring immediately after occlusion and again 3-5h after occlusion. Throughout these experimental studies it was considered that the preserved responses to the exogenous injected NA represented the contribution of presynaptic factor.