The heart in protein-calorie malnutrition in rats: morphological, electrophysiological and biochemical changes

Experimental protein-calorie malnutrition was produced in rats by feeding them a low-protein diet for 6 weeks. Control animals were fed a high-protein diet. The deficient rats showed severe restriction of body weight gain, fatty liver and hypoproteinemia. In addition the present study demonstrated that the experimentally-induced protein-calorie malnutrition brings about striking pathological and electrocardiographic changes as well as increased cardiac catecholamine levels. Based on this demonstration and considering the synchronism of morphological, electrophysiological and biochemical data, we postulated that nutritional stress to the heart raises the myocardium norepinephrine concentration, and continued exposure to high levels of catecholamines may play a role in the development of cardiac changes in protein-energy malnutrition.