AJP - Heart and Circulatory Physiology, Vol 233, Issue 4 431-H437, Copyright © 1977 by American Physiological Society
Chronology and mode of reinnervation of the surgically denervated canine heart: functional and chemical correlates
M. P. Kaye, W. C. Randall, G. R. Hageman, W. P. Geis and D. V. Priola
This study was undertaken to evaluate functionally the time and pattern of
inotropic and chronotropic efferent cardiac reinnervation of the
deneravated canine heart and to correlate functional data with regional
myocardial catecholamine content and supersensitivity to norepinephrine.
Our data indicate that efferent autonomic reinnervation takes place first
in the atria, followed by a base-to-apex sequence in the ventricles, and
that such reinnervation is functionally effective 9-12 mo after
denervation. The return of neural function parallels the return of
measurable quantities of myocardial norepinephrine and is accompanied by a
decrease in supersensitivity to exogenous norepinephrine. The return to
apparently complete functional reinnervation, however, cannot be
quantitatively related to myocardial levels of catecholamine. Segmental
myocardial supersensitivity to norepinephrine is sequentially reversed
during progressive adrenergic reinnervation.
