Creatine kinase and phosphorylase in cardiac lymph: coronary occlusion and reperfusion.

Cardiac lymph, collected from conscious dogs, was monitored for glycogen phosphorylase and creatine kinase (CK) enzymatic activity during control state, circumflex coronary artery (CFX) occlusion, and reperfusion. CFX occlusions, lasting for intervals as short as 10 min, initiated a release of phosphorylase and CK into the cardiac lymph, which was immediately observed during reperfusion of the ischemic tissue. Blood plasma levels did not appear for several hours. In the absence of reperfusion, the appearance of enzymes in cardiac lymph was delayed and peaked later. Glycogen phosphorylase and CK entered the lymph in greater quantities with reperfusion as the length of occlusion was increased. Histological examination of multiple sections of the reperfused hearts showed infarcts in hearts where CFX occlusions lasted 20 min or longer; occlusions of 10-15 min showed evidence of cell injury and death in two hearts and no definable infarct in the majority. Ischemic intervals of short duration release functionally active glycogen phosphorylase and CK, which reflect changes in myocardial cell egress of macromolecules and/or cell death.