Contractile effects of cardiac neuropeptides in isolated canine atrial and ventricular muscles.

Contractile effects of the cardiac neuropeptides vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), peptide histidine isoleucine (PHI), neuropeptide Y (NPY), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), and neurotensin (NT) were compared with those of l-isoproterenol (ISO) in isolated canine atrial and ventricular trabeculae muscles stimulated to contract at 1 Hz. In ventricular muscles, ISO, VIP, and PHI augmented developed isometric force by approximately 100%. VIP and PHI were three times and 1/10, respectively, as potent as ISO. VIP also exhibited positive inotropic effects in atrial trabeculae. The contractile responses to VIP were unchanged after beta-adrenergic blockade with nadolol at a concentration (10 microM) that shifted the ISO dose-response curve two to three orders of magnitude to the right. In atrial and ventricular trabeculae, NPY (1 microM) attenuated contractile force by 36 +/- 8 and 30 +/- 4%, respectively. Each peptide also caused comparable increases or decreases in the rate of development of force and the rate of relaxation. CGRP and NT caused no significant changes in developed force in either atrial or ventricular muscles in concentrations up to 1 microM. Our results indicate a potential positive inotropic action of endogenous VIP and PHI and a cardiodepressant effect of endogenous NPY in the canine heart.