Changes of cardiac structural proteins in myocardial infarction.

1. Changes of structural proteins in experimental and human myocardial infarction were studied by the determination of myosin- and actomyosin-ATPase activities and gel electrophoretic analysis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). 2. In animal experiments using dogs, the relative amounts of myosin and alpha-actinin decreased at 24 to 48 hours after coronary ligation, became lowest at 72 hours, and remained at this level for 2 weeks and returned to almost normal value at 28 days. 3. Myosin- and actomyosin-ATPase activities decreased rapidly during 24 to 48 hours after ligation with temporary increase in their activities in the initial stage of ischemia and followed the similar time course as that of the amounts of myosin and alpha-actinin. 4. SDS gel electrophoretic analysis of structural proteins of infarcted tissues of the human hearts obtained from 5 cadavers showed also marked decrease of the contents of myosin and alpha-actinin with relative preservation of actin, tropomyosin and troponin-T.