Failure of short-term nutritional convalescence to reverse the adverse hemodynamic effects of protein-calorie malnutrition in dogs.

We previously reported that protein-calorie malnutrition (PCM) exerts adverse hemodynamic effects on left ventricular (LV) structure and function. In the present experiments, we tried to determine the duration of these adverse effects by inducing significant weight loss in matched beagle dogs followed by a short-term course of nutritional repletion. Following restitution of initial body weight, the animals were placed on total cardiopulmonary bypass and an isovolumetric LV preparation was established to determine baseline LV function compared with matched animals that remained normally-nourished, and with a third group in which the effects of PCM were not reversed. Decreases in LV compliance persisted following refeeding as did the decreases in the first derivative of LV pressure (LV dp/dt). Although animals re-fed ordinary diets following acute weight loss restored normal concentrations of myocardial glycogen, cardiac abnormalities persited for more than one month following refeeding. These results suggest that the adverse effects of semistarvation on LV functions cannot be completely reversed by short-term refeeding.