Physiological and metabolic characterization of a cardiomyopathy induced by chronic copper deficiency

Male weanling rats were made copper deficient with a purified diet containing all known essential dietary nutrients except copper. Copper deficiency was verified by indirect (anemia, growth retardation, hypercholesterolemia, gross pathology, and abnormal electrocardiograms) and direct (tissue copper analysis) criteria. His bundle electrographic and electrocardiographic changes detected in the copper-deficient group consisted most notably of depressed His-Purkinje system conductivity and S-T segment depression. Phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analysis of cardiac, renal, and hepatic tissue perchloric acid extracts revealed significant metabolic changes associated with the dietary copper deficiency, including a generalized marked decrease in ATP and phosphocreatine levels and a corresponding increase in inorganic orthophosphate and ADP levels in the various tissues. Tissue-specific changes consisting of elevated ribose 5-phosphate (heart), phosphocholine (heart), and inosine monophosphate (kidney) and decreased glycerol 3-phosphorylethanolamine (liver) and glycerol 3-phosphorylcholine (liver) levels were detected in copper-deficient rats. Microscopic examination of heart tissue from copper-deficient rats revealed extensive disruption of mitochondrial fine structure, including fragmentation of cristae and inner and outer mitochondrial membranes, which resulted in pronounced vacuolization throughout the tissue. Although the physiological and metabolic disturbances manifested in hearts from copper-deficient animals generally mimic myocardial responses to chronic ischemia, the observed changes are interpreted in a broader context to represent the appearance of a copper-dependent cardiomyopathy.