[Metabolic turnover of catecholamines in the heart of rats after nonfatal burns].

The content and metabolic turnover of noradrenaline (NA) and adrenaline (A) have been studied in the hearts of rats subjected to nonlethal scalding. The results of the study have shown that in an early phase of the general reaction of the organism to thermal trauma it has come to the decreased NA content while in the later phase the NA content was in the limits of control values. The increased contents of Na and A in the murine hearts after monoamineoxidase inhibition and injection of L-DOPA indicated the preservation of the synthesis and overtaking of catecholamines by the heart muscle. The increase of the metabolic turnover and shortening of the time of the metabolic turnover of NA and A have pointed that the increased NA content in the hearts of the traumatized animals is the consequence of the increased requirements of these catecholamines by the heart muscle in the early posttraumatic phase.