Amelioration by beta-adrenergic blockade of regional myocardial dysfunction induced by coronary artery occlusion after, but not before collateral development in conscious dogs.

Effects of beta-adrenergic blockade on regional myocardial dysfunction induced by coronary artery occlusion were studied in chronically instrumented, conscious dogs before (n = 8) and after (n = 7) collateral development. Intravenous atenolol or propranolol produced no beneficial effects on systolic shortening in the area rendered ischemic during 2 minutes of circumflex occlusion, before collateral development. After the collateral development by repetitive 2-minute coronary occlusions, regional asynergy recovered to the preocclusive level during 2 minutes of occlusion. Both atenolol and propranolol significantly improved the peak reductions of regional shortening by 19 +/- 9% and 18 +/- 9%, respectively (p less than 0.05 versus without beta-blockade). These beneficial actions of beta-blockade were again noted during atrial tachypacing at matched heart rates of 160 +/- 11 beats/min. Thus the beneficial effects of beta-blockade on regional asynergy during coronary occlusion depend on the level of functional state of the collaterals and cannot be totally accounted for by the reduction in heart rate or by the cardioselectivity.