s-adenosylhomocysteine and Coronary-Disease

Left ventricular myocardial blood flow is spatially heterogeneous. The hypothesis we tested was whether myocardial areas with a steady-state flow <0.5 times mean flow are underperfused and areas with flow > 1.5 times mean flow are overperfused.. In anesthetized beagle dogs (n=10), the relationship between local blood flow versus S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) concentration, a measure of the free intracellular adenosine concentration, and lactate, a measure of the myocardial NADH/NAD+ ratio, were determined under control conditions and after coronary constriction. Control local myocardial blood flow was 0.99+/-0.46 mL x min(-1) x g(-1), with a coefficient of variation of 0.36+/-0.12 (n=256 per heart; sample wet mass, 125+/-30 mg). Tissue concentrations of SAH (3.4+/-2.5 nmol/g) and lactate (1.88+/-0.80 micromol/g) were not elevated in low-flow samples. However, after coronary artery constriction, poststenotic blood flow decreased from 1.00+/-0.27 to 0.49+/-0.22 mL x min(-1) x g(-1) (P<0.04), with significant correlation between local SAH and flow (r=-0.59) and lactate and flow (r = -0.50). Although nearly all samples from control high-flow regions showed increased SAH concentrations if relative flow after stenosis was <1.0, control low-flow samples frequently displayed low SAH concentrations. The percent reduction in flow determined the changes in the local SAH and lactate concentration, independent of the local control blood flow.. When the coronary inflow is unrestricted, the oxygen supply to control low-flow regions meets metabolic demand. Flow to control high-flow regions reflects a higher local demand rather than overperfusion. Thus, blood flow heterogeneity most likely reflects differences in aerobic metabolism.

Topics: Animals; Coronary Circulation; Coronary Disease; Dogs; Lactic Acid; Osmolar Concentration; Reference Values; S-Adenosylhomocysteine; Ventricular Function, Left

To investigate the relationship between flow and energy metabolism during coronary underperfusion, regional myocardial ATP content, cytosolic adenosine concentrations, and blood flow were measured during segmental coronary artery occlusion (complete ligation, n = 10) and demand ischemia (catecholamines plus atrial pacing with subtotal stenosis, n = 6) in halothane anesthetized open-chest dogs. During coronary occlusion or demand ischemia, L-homocysteine thiolactone was infused for 20 min, after which left ventricular tissue was rapidly frozen and analyzed for regional blood flow (microspheres) and content of ATP and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), an index of cytosolic adenosine. In nonischemic regions, ATP and SAH contents in both groups were the same as in unstimulated control animals with intact coronary circulation (n = 7), indicating that adrenergic stimulation during unrestricted flow had no effect on ATP or cytosolic adenosine. In the ischemic regions of both groups, there were decreases in regional flow, ATP content, and systolic wall thickening, and increases in SAH content. To compare the indexes of energy metabolism in tissue regions receiving equal blood flow, tissue samples were grouped into intervals of equal blood flow (ml.min-1.g-1). At every level of flow, ATP content in demand ischemia was 25-39% higher than in coronary occlusion. Estimates of cytosolic adenosine concentrations (using a mathematical model) in the lowest flow interval averaged 5 microM in demand ischemia, approximately twice as high as in coronary occlusion. It is concluded that in tissue regions receiving equal blood flow, ATP was better maintained and cytosolic adenosine was higher in demand ischemia than in coronary occlusion. The differences in ATP content and cytosolic adenosine were not due to different blood flows but rather to more favorable energy metabolism in demand ischemia.

Topics: Adenosine; Adenosine Triphosphate; Animals; Coronary Circulation; Coronary Disease; Cytosol; Dogs; Female; Hemodynamics; Male; Myocardial Ischemia; Myocardium; S-Adenosylhomocysteine

Rate of accumulation of myocardial S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) was used in an open-chest dog preparation as an index of free cytosolic adenosine levels. Following 30 minutes of coronary artery ligation and infusion of L-homocysteine thiolactone (10 mumol/kg/min i.v.) SAH levels increased from 1.3 (control) to 3.3 nmoles/g in the nonischemic and to values over 100 nmoles/g in the ischemic region. Compared with regional myocardial blood flow the enhanced rate of SAH accumulation was strictly confined to the ischemic area. As long as blood flow was 0.6-1.2 ml/min/g, SAH levels remained unchanged. However, they steeply increased when regional myocardial blood flow decreased below 60% of control. Tissue levels of adenine nucleotides, adenosine, and lactate were not significantly affected in the flow range of 0.4-0.6 ml/min/g but rate of SAH accumulation was enhanced by 400%. In the nonischemic myocardium, SAH accumulation was 60% higher in the subendocardium than in the subepicardium. Decreasing coronary perfusion pressure from 110 to 60, 45, and 35 mm Hg was associated with an exponential increase in coronary venous adenosine release only when perfusion pressure was below 60 mm Hg. Transmural mapping of SAH revealed that at 110 mm Hg SAH was homogeneously distributed, while at a perfusion pressure of 60 mm Hg SAH accumulation was enhanced only in the subendocardial layers. Decreasing perfusion pressure further to 40 and 30 mm Hg not only enhanced subendocardial SAH levels to 120 and 170 nmoles/g, respectively, but also considerably steepened the transmural gradient of SAH. SAH-hydrolase exhibited a broad pH-optimum and its activity in different parts of ventricular myocardium was identical. Our findings provide evidence that 1) measurement of SAH accumulation is a sensitive metabolic index for the assessment of regional myocardial ischemia, 2) significant formation of SAH occurs only when regional myocardial blood flow is less than 0.6 ml/min/g, and 3) transmural SAH gradient, a measure of free cytosolic adenosine, and coronary venous adenosine release significantly increase only when the autoregulatory reserve is exhausted.

Topics: Adenosine; Adenosylhomocysteinase; Animals; Coronary Circulation; Coronary Disease; Dogs; Endocardium; Homocysteine; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Hydrolases; Myocardium; Perfusion; S-Adenosylhomocysteine