title: Myocardial catecholamines in primary heart muscle disease: fact or fancy?
abstract: The pathophysiological role of myocardial catecholamines in cardiomyopathies is still not completely understood. We there-fore assessed myocardial catecholamine concentrations (MCC) in 34 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) (76.5% males; mean age 46.7 +/- 11.6 years; left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF] 75.3 +/- 9.8%) and in 32 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) (87.5% males, mean age 43.1 +/- 12.5 years, LVEF 34.9 +/- 8.3%). Initial assessment included clinical work up, cardiac catheterization and endomyocardial biopsy. Myocardial norepinephrine (MNEC), epinephrine (MEC), and dopamine (MDC) concentrations in endomyocardial biopsy samples were measured using the catechol-O- methyl transferase radioenzymatic method. Significantly higher MNEC and MEC were demonstrated in HCM than in DCM patients (MNEC: 781.9 +/- 125.8 ng.g-1 fresh myocardial tissue (ft) HCM vs 262.6 +/- 68.9 ng.g-1 ft DCM, p < 0.01; and MEC: 91.6 +/- 13.9 ng.g-1 ft HCM vs 35.8 +/- 6.2 ng.g-1 ft DCM, P < 0.01). The difference in MDC did not reach statistical significance (76.1 +/- 8.3 ng.g-1 ft HCM vs 70.1 +/- 11.8 ng.g ft DCM; P > 0.05). In addition, we compared the MCC levels in 24 patients, clinically presented as dilated cardiomyopathy categorized according to the various aetiologies: 12/24 with primary DCM (75.0% males, mean age 49.6 +/- 9.5 years; LVEF 25.8 +/- 63%), 7/24 with alcohol-induced heart disease (85.7% males, mean age 46.8 +/- 7.1 years; LVEF 26.4 +/- 4.6%), and 5/24 with hypertensive heart disease (100% males, 45.1 +/- 10.6 years; LVEF 25.6 +/- 9.1%), but no significant difference was found among them (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference in tissue dopamine concentrations.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Cardiovascular Disease, University Medical Centre, Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Seferović
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maksimović
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ostojić
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stepanović
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nikolić
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Vasiljević
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kanjuh
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Seferović
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Simeunović
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ristić
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000502:physiology; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000473:pathology*; D002312:Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic / Q000473:pathology*; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000378:metabolism*; D004699:Endocardium / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D002395:Catecholamines