[Norepinephrine-induced heart failure and the protective effect of taurine]

The prolonged noradrenaline treatment of rats (total dosage from 1 week--25 mg/kg), results in greatly reduced cardiac pump function and heart rate with a pronounced increase in left ventricular diastolic stiffness. These functional changes are associated with a deficiency of energy supply, especially depletion of phosphocreatine content. The taurine administration (100 mg/kg prior to 20 min noradrenaline injection) is accompanied by reliably less essential cardiac insufficiency. Moreover, the ATP, ADP level is normal and phosphocreatine content enhances by 15%.