Spatial heterogeneity of blood flow in the dog heart. II. Temporal stability in response to adrenergic stimulation.

The effects of adrenergic stimulation on local myocardial blood flow in the left ventricle were studied in 13 anaesthetized Beagle dogs using the tracer microsphere technique. Adrenergic stimulation was induced by intravenous infusion of orciprenaline (1-2 microg kg-1 min-1) over 15 min or by electrical stimulation of the left ansa subclavia (10 Hz, 1 ms, 4-8 V) over 5 min. Local myocardial blood flow was analysed in 256 samples with an average (+/-SD) mass of 318+/-49 mg from the left ventricular myocardium using a standardized dissection procedure. Orciprenaline increased the average myocardial blood flow from 0.85+/-0.18 to 1.73+/-0.27 ml min-1 g-1, while oxygen consumption and the pressure-rate product increased by 129 and 119% respectively. The coefficients of variation of local myocardial blood flow, a measure of spatial blood flow heterogeneity, were 0.21 and 0.18 under control and orciprenaline respectively. Except for a slight transmural gradient (endomyocardium/epimyocardium flow ratio 1.19) myocardial blood flow did not exhibit significant spatial gradients. Stimulation with orciprenaline increased the average blood flow in all regions of the left ventricle by comparable extents. However, local blood flow during orciprenaline was significantly lower in samples from regions which had a lower blood flow under resting control conditions. A significant positive relationship was obtained between local myocardial blood flow under resting conditions and orciprenaline (r=0.45+/-0.18). Moreover, after recovery from orciprenaline stimulation (i.e. 40-112 min after the end of orciprenaline infusion) local myocardial blood flow exhibited a high degree of correlation with local flow before orciprenaline (r=0.71+/-0.08). Comparable results were obtained with electrical stimulation of the left ansa subclavia. For the comparison stimulation vs. control, the correlation coefficient of local blood flow was 0.52+/-0.04 and for recovery vs. control 0.77+/-0.06. From these results it is concluded firstly that local myocardial blood flow under resting conditions is an important determinant of local flow during adrenergic stimulation. Secondly, the anatomical region does not have any predictive value for the blood flow change during adrenergic stimulation and finally, the close relationship between local blood flow before and after cardiac stimulation indicates that the spatial blood flow heterogeneity is temporally stable over hours.