Experimental investigation of the effect of cardiac glycosides on the ischemic coronary circulation.

The paper presents new evidence of the vasoactivity of cardiac glycosides in the myocardium. Experiments were performed on the in situ dog heart. The present study primarily focuses on the analysis of K-strophantoside induced topo-optical and thermographic alterations in acute myocardial ischemia. The strong binding of K-strophantoside to the coronary vessel wall and the endothelial cells was found to be accompanied by vasoconstriction in the regionally ischemic heart muscle. The potential clinical impact of these findings on therapy is briefly evaluated.