Atrial and vascular oxidative stress in patients with heart failure.

Heart failure is characterized by a great number of metabolic and histological defects, however, previous studies did not provide strong evidence of a correlation between the antioxidant status of myocardial tissue itself and cardiac function. The goal of our study was to assess, in patients with heart failure consecutive to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), alterations in norepinephrine (NE), lipid peroxidation (malonedialdehyde: MDA) and iron levels in different parts of the myocardium and aorta, in relation to functional parameters. Biopsied heart samples were obtained from 12 DCM patients and from 4 brain-dead organ donors (Controls). The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was reduced to 19.1±2.6% in DCM. For all patients, the distribution of NE in the atria, ventricles and vessels was different, but NE content in control hearts was systematically higher than in cardiomyopathy patients. MDA levels tended to be higher in the different samples from the DCM group in comparison with the values obtained in the C group; the values were significantly decreased (p<0.05) in endocardium and the aortic samples. In the right atrium there was a significant correlation between NE content and LVEF and between MDA and iron concentrations. These findings could give further insights into the relationship between iron metabolism disturbances and the severity of cardiovascular diseases.