Metabolism of totally ischemic excised dog heart. II. Interpretation of a computer model.

Analysis of the ischemic dog heart preparation described in the preceding paper indicates that it is an analogue in slow motion of the tissue in the center of a cardiac infarct. It is respiring very slowly and not capable of performing mechanical work. Glycolysis starts up with both glucose and glycogen as inputs. Later hexokinase and to some extent phosphofructokinase become limiting owing to inhibitor accumulation or acidosis. Metabolism then results primarily from cAMP-driven glycogenolysis, largely limited by the glycogen debranching enzymes at later times, with accumultion not only of lactate and alpha-glycerophosphate but of glucose as well. Amino acid levels oscillate with time while fatty acids accumulate at late times. The elevation of cAMP at later times may involve disturbances in its metabolism as well as mechanisms such as adenosine accumulation that are more important in cardiac ischemia than in normal heart. The clinical implications of this behavior are discussed.