Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Journal of Experimental Pathology logoLink to British Journal of Experimental Pathology
. 1989 Dec;70(6):659–667.

Quantitative evaluation of myocardial injury induced by acute cerebral ischaemia and its prevention by beta 1-adrenergic blockade. An ultrastructural morphometry study.

A Kolin 1, A Brezina 1, A J Lewis 1, J W Norris 1
PMCID: PMC2040714  PMID: 2605113

Abstract

The protective effects of beta 1-adrenergic blockade with metoprolol (Betaloc Astra) were demonstrated in the gerbil model of myocardial injury provoked by acute ischaemic brain lesions. The myocardial injury was reversible and lipid droplet accumulation was its most striking morphological feature. These droplets were easy to measure in EM photographs and their size was expressed as percentage of sarcoplasmic volume. The EM data of fat accumulation were compared in hearts of carotid-ligated animals with and without metoprolol pretreatment, and in animals with the carotid isolated only, at standard intervals 3-48 h after operation. While in carotid-ligated-only animals the average myocardial fat contents rose to a peak of 1.9% at 10 h, in metoprolol pretreated animals the amount of fat was always significantly lower and started to return earlier to basal values (peak at 6 h, 1.1%). In carotid-isolated-only animals, fat accumulation peaked at 6-10 h (1.1%) and returned quickly to normal levels (0.34 +/- 0.18%). This effective pharmacological blockade with metoprolol strongly supports the concept of catecholamine mediation between acute intracranial lesions and myocardial injury. The background and significance of myocardial fat accumulation is discussed. The EM morphometry of fat droplets appears to be a suitable tool for quantification of reversible myocardial damage most useful for experimental evaluation of cardioprotective measures. As changes in succinic dehydrogenase histochemistry (from 'myofibrillar' to 'granular' pattern) correlated with EM measured fat accumulation, the simplicity and speed of the SDH method recommends itself for fast orientation about presence of myocardial damage.

Full text

PDF
659

Images in this article

662Fig. 1
on p.662
663Fig. 2
on p.663

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bilheimer D. W., Buja L. M., Parkey R. W., Bonte F. J., Willerson J. T. Fatty acid accumulation and abnormal lipid deposition in peripheral and border zones of experimental myocardial infarcts. J Nucl Med. 1978 Mar;19(3):276–283. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. CLABAUGH G. F., JENNINGS R. B., WARTMAN W. B., YOKOYAMA H. O. Fatty change of the myocardium in early experimental infarction. AMA Arch Pathol. 1956 Oct;62(4):318–323. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. CROPP G. J., MANNING G. W. Electrocardiographic changes simulating myocardial ischemia and infarction associated with spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage. Circulation. 1960 Jul;22:25–38. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.22.1.25. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Connor R. C. Heart damage associated with intracranial lesions. Br Med J. 1968 Jul 6;3(5609):29–31. doi: 10.1136/bmj.3.5609.8. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Kakari S. Observations on the use of nitro blue tetrazolium in the detection of early myocardial changes. Histochem J. 1970 Nov;2(6):453–477. doi: 10.1007/BF01003125. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kolin A., Brezina A., Kellen J. A., Lewis A. J., Norris J. W. Reversible myocardial damage in gerbil brain ischaemia and its prevention by beta-adrenergic blockade. Br J Exp Pathol. 1988 Oct;69(5):621–630. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Kolin A., Norris J. W. Myocardial damage from acute cerebral lesions. Stroke. 1984 Nov-Dec;15(6):990–993. doi: 10.1161/01.str.15.6.990. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Moore K. H., Radloff J. F., Hull F. E., Sweeley C. C. Incomplete fatty acid oxidation by ischemic heart: beta-hydroxy fatty acid production. Am J Physiol. 1980 Aug;239(2):H257–H265. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.1980.239.2.H257. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Myers M. G., Norris J. W., Hachniski V. C., Sole M. J. Plasma norepinephrine in stroke. Stroke. 1981 Mar-Apr;12(2):200–204. doi: 10.1161/01.str.12.2.200. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Norris J. W. Effects of cerebrovascular lesions on the heart. Neurol Clin. 1983 Feb;1(1):87–101. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Schaper J., Meiser E., Stämmler G. Ultrastructural morphometric analysis of myocardium from dogs, rats, hamsters, mice, and from human hearts. Circ Res. 1985 Mar;56(3):377–391. doi: 10.1161/01.res.56.3.377. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Todd G. L., Baroldi G., Pieper G. M., Clayton F. C., Eliot R. S. Experimental catecholamine-induced myocardial necrosis. I. Morphology, quantification and regional distribution of acute contraction band lesions. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 1985 Apr;17(4):317–338. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2828(85)80132-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British journal of experimental pathology are provided here courtesy of Wiley

RESOURCES