Effect of preload on ischaemic and non-ischaemic left ventricular regional function

The response to preload of ischaemic and non-ischaemic regions of the left ventricle was studied in 14 dogs undergoing right heart bypass with mean aortic pressure and heart rate held constant. Regional function was measured by sonomicrometry before and after coronary artery occlusion. In the ischaemic region, as expected, there was paradoxical systolic lengthening (that is, systolic shortening was negative) but as stroke volume was progressively increased end diastolic length increased, whereas end systolic length changed little; thus systolic lengthening decreased (systolic shortening increased). Ischaemic regions that were dyskinetic at low stroke volumes were virtually akinetic at high stroke volumes. Additional studies showed that this response was not attributable to increased regional blood flow at high preloads and occurred over a wide range of heart rates and mean aortic pressures. Plots of systolic shortening against end diastolic length, expressing the regional Frank-Starling relation, were well described by linear regression in both ischaemic and non-ischaemic regions, although a few of these relations were better described by higher order polynomials. The slopes of these relations in the ischaemic region were 0.86(0.05) before and 0.83(0.06) after ligation, reflecting a small effect of preload on end systolic length. The data suggest that when contractility and afterload are constant preload determines the magnitude and in certain instances the sign of systolic shortening. In any ischaemic regions incapable of developing force the positive slope of the Frank-Starling relation is attributable to myocardial passive elastic properties. Paradoxical lengthening does not, however, necessarily indicate the absence of active force development; positive and negative values of systolic shortening describe a continuous spectrum of regional contractility. Thus the effects of preload and contractility on systolic shortening in ischaemic as well as non-ischaemic myocardium require differentiation.