Heterogeneity in distribution of cardiac glycogen following isoproterenol infusions in the dog.

A combined biochemical, histochemical and cytochemical study was made of cardiac glycogen distribution following intravenous infusions of varying doses of isoproterenol in anaesthetized, open-chested dogs. There was a dose-dependent decrease in glycogen levels in biopsies of the posterolateral wall of the left ventricle which also exhibited a transmural gradient with the endocardial third the most severely affected. Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) histochemical studies also suggested a transmural gradient. There was, however, a marked variability within each layer, particularly the large amounts in the conduction system fibres. The ultrastructural studies exhibited a marked variation in glycogen content from one cell to the next. This was particularly evident in the complete absence of absence of granules in the contraction band lesions of isoproterenol cardiotoxicity yet substantial amounts were retained in neighbouring cells. Isoproterenol, therefore, produces a heterogenous depletion of cardiac glycogen related to the scattered catecholamine-induced myocardial cellular lesions. These relations have not previously been documented or emphasized.