Myocardial enzyme activities in patients with mitral regurgitation or mitral stenosis

To determine the adaption of myocardial metabolism in mitral regurgitation and mitral stenosis, human papillary muscles obtained during open heart surgery were analysed to measure selective enzyme activities in energy metabolism. All enzyme activities were expressed per unit dry weight muscle, per unit alkali soluble protein, and per unit total creatine and the different results compared. The activities of enzymes concerned with mitochondrial energy production and energy transfer (namely, citrate synthase and mitochondrial creatine kinase) tended to be higher in papillary muscles from hearts with mitral regurgitation than in those with mitral stenosis. The activities of enzymes concerned with cytoplasmic energy production (creatine kinase MM, lactate dehydrogenase, and phosphofructokinase) did not show statistically significant differences between mitral regurgitation and mitral stenosis. The ratio of creatine kinase MB activity to total creatine content showed the greatest difference when papillary muscles from patients with mitral regurgitation and mitral stenosis were compared (31% higher in mitral regurgitation; p less than 0.001). The specific function of creatine kinase MB, which is located in cytoplasm, is not well defined. Creatine kinase MB activity increases with extreme endurance training of human skeletal muscle. Thus the higher creatine kinase MB activity in papillary muscle of mitral regurgitation may represent an adaptation to increased physical demand.