[Experimentally induced heart muscle fiber necroses after premedication with strophanthin (author's transl)]

Number and degree of angiotensin-induced heart muscle necrosis in the rat (75 mg/kg body weight) are diminuished by premedication with strophanthin (2 X 10(-2) MG/KG BODY WEIGHT). The electron-microscopic findings are also changed: the application of angiotensin only results in vacuolization of mitochondria and a dilatation of theendoplasmatic reticulum while myofibrils are unaltered. Angiotensin in combination with strophanthin has a direct destructive effect on the myofibrils without evident changes of the mitochondria and tubular system of the heart. The protective action of Strophanithin on the heart muscle cell is discussed in the sense of an exonomization of the cellular metabolism under conditions of relative coronary insufficiency, induced by the vasoconstructive effect of angiotensin.