Smoking and catecholamine and c-AMP concentrations in the coronary circulation of man and the effect of oxprenolol.

Changes in catecholamine, c-AMP and lactate concentrations in the coronary circulation of man, during smoking, were studied in 12 patients. The heart rate increase from 63 +/- 2 beats/min (control) to 74 +/- 3 (smoking)(P less than 0.01), falling to 70 +/- 2 (10 min after smoking) (0.05 greater than P greater than 0.01), whilst coronary sinus c-AMP concentrations rose from 11 +/- 0.7 nmol/l (smoking) to 11.9 +/- 0.8 nmol/l (after smoking) (0.05 greater than P greater than 0.01; one tailed 't' test). There was no significant change in blood pressure, catecholamine or lactate concentrations. The study was repeated in eight of the patients following intravenous oxprenolol. Coronary sinus catecholamine concentrations increased from 4.1 +/- 0.7 nmol/l (control) to 5.5 +/- 1.1 nmol/l (after smoking) (0.05 greater than P greater than 0.01; one tailed 't' test), but heart rate and c-AMP concentrations remained unchanged, confirming that smoking-induced tachycardia is a result of a beta-adrenergic mechanism, at least part of which is due to a release of cardiac catecholamines. Arterial lactate concentrations increased only following oxprenolol from 0.74 +/- 0.07 mmol/l (control) to 0.83 +/- 0.09 mmol/l (smoking).