Stability of myocardial O2 consumption-pressure-volume area relation in red cell-perfused rabbit heart

We evaluated the mechanical and energetic stability of the isolated rabbit heart perfused with a suspension of bovine red cells in Krebs-Henseleit buffer in terms of the pressure-volume area (PVA) concept. PVA, the area surrounded by the end-systolic and end-diastolic pressure-volume (P-V) relations and the systolic P-V trajectory of the P-V diagram, represents the total mechanical energy generated by each cardiac contraction. Myocardial O2 consumption (VO2) per beat has been reported to be highly linearly correlated with PVA. We used the slope and VO2-axis intercept of the VO2-PVA relation as energetic parameters and the maximum P-V ratio (Emax) as a contractility index of the left ventricle (LV) and compared them every 30 min for 120 min. Emax, the slope, and VO2 intercept of the VO2-PVA relation did not change significantly over 120 min compared with their control values [7.3 +/- 2.9 mmHg.ml-1.100 g LV, (1.67 +/- 0.40) x 10(-5) ml O2.mmHg-1.ml-1, and (3.26 +/- 1.01) x 10(-2) ml O2.beat-1.100 g LV-1, respectively]. However, the goodness of the linear fit of the VO2-PVA relation decreased after 90 min (r = 0.94 control, 0.62 at 90 min, and 0.64 at 120 min). Therefore, we conclude that the isolated bovine red cell-perfused rabbit heart preparation is stable for mechanical and energetic studies for at least 60 min.