The regional distribution of adenosine-regulating enzymes in the left and right ventricle walls of control and hypertrophic heart.

The transmural distribution of the adenosine-generating enzyme 5'-nucleotidase (5'N) and of the adenosine-degrading enzymes adenosine deaminase (ADA), AMP deaminase (AMP-D) and adenosine kinase (Ado-K) were determined across the walls of left and right ventricles of control and hypertrophic rat hearts. The enzyme distribution across the left ventricle wall (but not across the right wall) of normal hearts was not uniform: 5'N activity shows its highest levels in the subepicardial and in the subendocardial regions, whereas all the other enzyme activities show their lowest levels. A similar pattern of transmural distribution was also detected in other mammalian species (ox and pig). In the experimental cardiac hypertrophy, caused by two different types of chronic cardiac overload, the levels and the profiles of transmural distribution of 5'N and ADA enzyme activities may significantly change across the rat left ventricle wall.