Biochemical and morphological correlates of acute experimental myocardial ischemia in the dog. IV. Energy mechanisms during very early ischemia.

Tissue energy metabolism was examined in posterior (ischemic) and anterior ("control") regions of canine ventricles after 5 and 10 minutes of left circumflex coronary artery occlusion. When compared to identical regions of normal hearts, the following changes were found: (1) decreases in glycogen and phosphorylase activity in the anterior and posterior regions, (2) depressed state 3 rates of oxygen consumption of isolated mitochondria in both anterior and posterior regions, (3) shifts in optimum substrate concentrations for palmityl-CoA (+ carnitine) oxidation by mitochondria in the anterior and posterior regions, and (4) decreases in the apparent zero order and first order rates of mitochondrial palmitylcarnitine production. These changes correlated with a marked decrease in developed tension in the posterior regions. Depression in tension development in the posterior regions of the heart still was present after 30--60 minutes of reperfusion following a 10-minute period of occlusion. Glycogen content in the reperfused areas was significantly decreased after 60 minutes of reperfusion when compared to normal areas and to control hearts perfused for 70 minutes. After reperfusion, mitochondrial function appeared to return toward "normal." However, the slow restoration of contraction of the ischemic area suggests that cellular mechanisms operative in vivo to restore pump function still might be abnormal.