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Beneficial Effects of Estrogen on Cardiac Stunning in Female Rabbits

Department of Reproductive Biology, Case Western Reserve University, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106 gig{at}po.cwru.edu

Matthew N. Levy, MD

Tianen Yang, PhD

James Goldfarb, MD

Wulf H. Utian, MD, PhD

Departments of Reproductive Biology and Physiology and Biophysics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and Division of Investigative Medicine, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Objective: To determine the effect of estrogen treatment on the contractile, relaxation, and chronotropic responses of hearts of female rabbits to cessation of perfusion.

Methods: Adult female rabbits were treated either with estradiol or with the vehicle (control). The hearts were then isolated and perfused at constant pressure by the Langendorff technique. A saline-filled balloon connected to a pressure transducer was inserted in the left ventricle in order to assess the mechanical function of the isolated heart. Cardiac stunning was induced by halting the perfusion of the coronary vasculature for four successive periods of 1, 3, 5, and 5 minutes, followed by reperfusion between nonperfusion periods. Changes in cardiac function induced by the cessation of perfusion were assessed by monitoring the changes in heart rate and in left ventricular pressure ([dP/dt]_max as an index of ventricular contractility and [dP/dt]_min as an index of ventricular relaxation). Changes in coronary flow were determined at baseline and following reperfusion.

Results: Halting coronary perfusion decreased (dP/dt)_max and (dP/dt)_min and slowed left ventricular contractions both in control and in estrogen-treated hearts. The depressant effects of flow cessation on left ventricular (dP/dt)_max and (dP/dt)_min were smaller in estrogen-treated hearts than in control hearts. Treatment with estrogen had no effect on the changes on the heart rate in responses to cessation of flow and to reperfusion. Treatment with estrogen increased coronary flow by 40%. Coronary reperfusion increased coronary flow transiently, but the effects did not differ signifiicantly between control and estrogen-treated hearts.

Conclusion: Short-term treatment of adult female rabbits with doses of estrogen that are physiologic for the rabbit exerts a protective effect on cardiac contractility from repetitive periods without perfusion.

Key Words: Absence of cardiac perfusion • reperfusion • estrogen • coronary flow

Journal of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, Vol. 6, No. 2, 80-87 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/107155769900600206


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