Heat production and oxygen consumption of the isolated rabbit heart: their relation to mechanical function

A method is described for simultaneous determination of the heat production and the oxygen consumption of the isolated, isovolumetrically beating rabbit heart. The perfusion of the heart was performed via the aorta at a constant flow rate with carbogen saturated Tyrode's solution at a temperature of 37.0 degrees C. Heart function was varied by stepwise augmentation of the left intraventricular volume (LVV) by means of a balloon catheter. The following mechanical parameter of heart function were determined: enddiastolic pressure (EDP), peak pressure (PP), developed pressure (DP), max. contraction and relaxation velocity (dP/dt-A and dP/dt-B), enddiastolic tension (Tens-EDP), peak tension (Tens-PP), developed tension (Tens-DP), and circumferential tension (Tens-Cir). DP, dP/dt-A and dP/dt-R showed a maximum response to changes of the LVV at 2.0 ml LVV and 19.3 mm Hg EDP. Heat production (H) and oxygen consumption (Q) were correlated closely to mechanical function and to each other (r = 0.89, n = 8). The ratio H/Q was 4.9 cal/ml O2 and remained constant during the experiment. The myocardial energy consumption was significantly correlated toall contraction parameters with the best fit to DP and Tens-Cir (r = 0.934 and 0.933 resp.). On the basis of the calculated mean regression lines, the function-independent and the function-dependent energy consumption were calculated.