MYOCARDIAL CATECHOLAMINES IN PRIMARY HEART-MUSCLE DISEASE - FACT OR FANCY

The pathophysiological role of myocardial catecholamines in cardiomyop athies is still not completely understood. We therefore assessed myoca rdial catecholamine concentrations (MCC) In 34 patients with hypertrop hic cardiomyopathy (HCM) (76.5% males; mean age 46.7 +/- 11.6 years; l eft ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF] 75.3 +/- 9.8%) and in 32 pati ents with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) (87.5% males mean age 43.1 +/- 12.5 years, LT/EF 34.9 +/- 8.3%). Initial assessment included clinical work up, cardiac catheterization and endomyocardial biopsy. Myocardia l norepinephrine (MNEC), epinephrine (MEC), and dopamine (MDC) concent rations in endomyocardial biopsy samples were measured rising the cate chol-O-methyl transferase radioenzymatic method. Significantly higher MNEC and MEC were demonstrated in HCM than in DCM patients (MNEC: 781. 9 +/- 125.8 ng.g(-1) fresh myocardial tissue (ft) HCM vs 262.6 +/- 68. 9 ng.g(-1) ft DCM, P < 0.01; and MEC: 92.6 +/- 13.9 ng.g(-1) ft HCM vs 35.8 +/- 6.2 ng.g(-1) ft DCM, P < 0.01). The difference in MDC did no t reach statistical significance (76.1 +/- 8.3 ng.g(-1) ft HCM vs 70.1 +/- 11.8 ng.g(-1) ft DCM; P > 0.05). In addition, we compared the MCC levels in 24 patients clinically presented as dilated cardiomyopathy categorized according to the various aetiologies: 12/24 with primary D CM (75.0% males, mean age 49.6 +/- 9.5 years; LVEF 25.8 +/- 6.3%), 7/2 4 with alcohol-induced heart disease (85.7% males, mean age 46.8 +/- 7 .1 years; LVEF 26.4 +/- 4.6%), and 5/24 with hypertensive heart diseas e (100% males, 45.1 +/- 10.6 years; LVEF 25.6 +/- 9.1%), but no signif icant difference was found among them (P > 0.05). There was no signifi cant difference in tissue dopamine concentrations.