Effects of administration of L-propionylcarnitine during ischemia on the recovery of myocardial function in the anesthetised pig.

The effects of L-propionylcarnitine (50 mg/kg) were studied in open-chest anesthetized pigs in which the blood flow in the left anterior descending coronary artery was reduced to 20% of baseline. A group of 7 animals given L-propionylcarnitine after 30 minutes of ischemia was compared with a group of 8 animals treated only with saline. After 60 minutes of ischemia the myocardium was reperfused for 2 hours. In both groups, the reduction of coronary artery blood flow abolished contraction of the affected myocardium and caused similar decreases in mean arterial blood pressure, the maximal rate of rise in left ventricular pressure, cardiac output, and ATP level and energy charge of the affected zone. L-propionylcarnitine did not affect any of these changes. Two hours of reperfusion caused further deterioration of systemic hemodynamics in both groups, although the decreases in cardiac output (P greater than 0.05) and mean arterial blood pressure (P less than 0.05) were smaller in the animals treated with L-propionylcarnitine. Left ventricular work, which decreased similarly in both groups during ischemia, deteriorated further in the saline treated group during reperfusion. This decrease was significantly attenuated by L-propionylcarnitine. Two hours of reperfusion resulted in only a partial return of blood flow to the reperfused ischemic myocardium, amounting to 53% of baseline in the saline-treated and to 72% of baseline in the L-propionylcarnitine-treated animals. The energy charge increased in both groups, but the increment tended to be less (P greater than 0.05) in the animals which had received L-propionylcarnitine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)