Blood flow in the hypertrophied right ventricular myocardium of unanesthetized ponies

To examine the effects of right ventricular (RV) hypertrophy on regional myocardial blood flow and coronary vascular reserve, hemodynamics and myocardial blood flow (15-micrometers radio-nuclide-labeled microspheres) were studied in 12 unanesthetized adult ponies before and during intravenous isoproterenol HCl infusion (1 microgram.kg-1.min-1). Six ponies served as controls, whereas in each of the others the main pulmonary artery (PA) had been banded 35-90 days prior to the study. Marked RV hypertrophy was present in PA-banded animals. In these ponies, there was a significant increase in RV systolic pressure (147%), heart rate (88%), RV tension-time index (279%), and RV myocardial blood flow (137%), while their RV coronary vascular resistance was only 40% of that for control ponies. Blood flow in right side of the interventricular septum was also significantly higher in the PA-banded ponies. Endo/epi perfusion ratio exceeded 1.00 for both ventricular freewalls in all animals. With isoproterenol infusion, there was a marked increase in myocardial blood flow in both groups. However, in PA-banded ponies the endo/epi flow ratio decreased precipitously below 1.00 in both ventricular freewalls. In control ponies this did not happen in the RV freewall, and RV coronary vascular resistance decreased to 19% of its control value. In PA-banded ponies, the magnitude of decline in RV coronary vascular resistance was much smaller, only 32% of that for control ponies. It is concluded that, unlike in LV hypertrophy, transmural myocardial blood flow per unit mass is much higher in the hypertrophied RV myocardium of adult resting ponies, and this higher RV perfusion occurs at the expense of curtailed RV coronary vascular reserve.