The capillary and sarcolemmal barriers in the heart. An exploration of labeled water permeability.

Although the exchange of labeled water between blood and tissue in the heart has usually been assumed to be flow-limited, the outflow patterns of labeled water, relative to intravascular references, in a multiple indicator dilution experiment, have appeared to be anomalous in terms of the models used to explain the transport of less permeable substances. Data showing a change in the shape of the labeled water outflow curve after vasodilation and after the infusion of toxic doses of 2,4-dinitrophenol led us to propose a new model for labeled water permeation which includes barriers at both the capillary wall and the sarcolemmal membrane. This model explains adequately the form of the outflow curve, provides parameters related to the permeability at the two barriers, and gives an estimate of the ratio of the intracellular to interstitial space. Dinitrophenol infused intra-arterially in a dose sufficient to cause S-T elevation in the electrocardiogram is found to reduce the sarcolemmal water permeability by an order of magnitude, but to have no effect on capillary water permeability. We conclude that water transport in the heart is barrier-limited at both the capillary and sarcolemmal membranes and that sarcolemmal water permeability is probably mediated at least in part by a structure sensitive to the effects of dinitrophenol, presumably a protein channel. Since the outflow patterns of inert gases resemble that of labeled water, it is possible that oxygen distribution is also barrier-limited.