Enzyme pattern and lipid peroxides in endomyocardial biopsies from patients with cardiomyopathy and myocarditis.

Methods have been developed for measuring several biochemical parameters (isoenzymes of LDH and ASAT, glycogen phosphorylase, lipid peroxides) in extremely small tissue samples (0.2-1.8 mg) taken using a left ventricular biopsy technique. Endomyocardial biopsies from patients with dilative and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (CMP) and with myocarditis were investigated and compared with a reference group without actual functional and morphological evidence of chronic heart disease. Patients with myocarditis showed the highest activities of LDH and its isoenzymes, ASAT, ASATm and glycogen phosphorylase and the highest concentration of lipid peroxides. In patients with hypertrophic CMP increased activities of glycogen phosphorylase and decreased activities of ASAT and ASATm have been found. In patients with dilative CMP slightly elevated ASAT and ASATm activities have been observed. The results obtained in this study suggest that the parameters investigated could be useful in differentiating between cardiomyopathies and myocarditis.