[Neurosecretory system of the hypothalamus in acute and chronic heart failure].

The hypothalamohypophyseal neurosecretory system (HHNS) was examined in the deceased from myocardial infarctions and chronic cardiac insufficiency. All 80 cases of infarctions showed in increased functional activity of the HHNS, irrespective of the time from the beginning of the disease. If the infarction was complicated by decompensation, the HHNS was characterized by hypervasopressure accompanied by occurrence of small vacuolized cells in the supraoptical nuclei with a low secretion content and high activity of biosynthetical enzymes, and a drop of secretion in the neurohypophysis. In chronic cardiac insufficiency (50 cases) there were 2 variants of changes in the HHNS, which correlated with the level of sympathetic nervous system activity (which was vitally determined from the diurnal catecholamine excretion). With high sympathetic activity, the changes in the HHNS were identical to those in myocardial infarctions, complicated by decompensation. The low activity was associated with HHNS depletion, which correlated with patients' nonsusceptibility to pathogenetic therapy.