Factors regulating basal metabolism of the isolated perfused rabbit heart

Basal metabolism has been measured in isolated whole hearts from rabbits and compared with myothermic and polarographic measurements on isolated papillary muscles. Hearts were perfused at constant pressure (Langendorff method) using a modified Krebs-Henseleit solution (KH) with glucose as substrate. Higher levels of basal O2 consumption (MVO2) and coronary flow (CF) were observed when arrest was induced by calcium depletion (low Ca; 0.1 mM CaCl2, 10.0 mM KCl) rather than by potassium excess (high K; 30.0 mM KCl). The metabolic rate of high K arrested hearts was close to earlier myothermic estimates (J. Mol. Cell. Cardiol. 16: 953-962, 1984); polarographic values, however, were about twofold higher, and somewhat higher than the value obtained in low Ca arrested hearts. The addition of erythrocytes, albumin, or dextran significantly reduced CF but did not substantially alter basal MVO2. Basal metabolic rate was substrate- and O2 tension-dependent, and under all experimental conditions there was linear relationship between MVO2 and CF. Extrapolations to zero flow showed that the basal MVO2 values so obtained were similar in low Ca or high K and were not altered by the presence of erythrocytes. Our results show that there are several factors regulating basal metabolism.