Alterations in ANG II responsiveness in left and right myocardium after infarction-induced heart failure in rats

To determine the effects of coronary arterial occlusion on the contractile response of the heart to angiotensin II (ANG II) administration, large infarcts were surgically induced in Sprague-Dawley rats at 2 mo of age. Forty-eight hours later, hearts from experimental animals presented a hemodynamic profile indicative of left ventricular failure and right ventricular dysfunction and revealed a loss of mass of 49.3 +/- 10.8% of the left ventricle inclusive of the interventricular septum. Plasma renin activity was found to be decreased by 48% in animals with occlusion of the left main coronary artery. Left and right posterior papillary muscles removed from these same hearts were evaluated mechanically in the presence and absence of ANG II. Contractile performance was impaired in left ventricular myocardium from infarcted rats as evidenced by the inability to attain developed tension similar to that seen in control rats. In addition, peak rates of tension rise and decay were significantly depressed. A reduction in contraction duration was also found in experimental animals, limiting the active state of the myocardium. ANG II resulted in a depression in the force-generating ability of left and right papillary muscles of control and experimental animals. Importantly, the negative inotropic effect of ANG II affected the left and right myocardium from infarcted rats by nearly twofold and threefold more than the corresponding muscles from controls. Morphometric evaluation revealed the absence of damage in both papillary muscles from control hearts and in the right muscles from experimental animals. However, necrotic tissue comprised 28.3 +/- 9.8% of left papillary muscles obtained from infarcted ventricles. It is concluded that ANG II administration resulted in reduced mechanical performance of rat myocardium. Coronary arterial ligation potentiated this phenomenon, and such a negative effect may have implication in infarction induced heart failure in vivo.