Inhibition of ion transport in septic rat heart: 133cs+ as an nmr active k+ analog. Schornack, Paul A., Sheng-Kwei Song, Richard Hotchkiss, and Joseph J. H. Ackerman. Department of Chemistry, Washington University, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, and Departments of Anesthesiology, Medicine,and Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110-1093
APStracts 3:0411C, 1996.
Sepsis, the systemic response to severe infection, and the resulting multiorgan failure it induces are major contributors to intensive care unit morbidity and mortality. A number of abnormalities in ion transport processes and intracellular free sodium, [Na+]i, and potassium, [K+]i, concentrations have been reported to occur during sepsis/endotoxemia. An effect of sepsis on the Na+/K+ ATPase may be an important contribution to changes in intracellular ion balance and the resultant pathophysiology of the disorder. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of sepsis on the Na+/K+ ATPase in the isolated perfused rat heart using 133Cs nuclear magnetic resonance, NMR. Cs+ is a K+ analog and 133Cs NMR offers the opportunity of examining Na+/K+ ATPase activity in the intact organ via tracer kinetics. Sepsis was induced in halothane anesthetized male Sprague -Dawley rats using the cecal-ligation and perforation, CLP, model. Twenty-four to thirty-six hours after surgery, hearts from CLP or sham-operated rats were perfused with Krebs-Henseleit buffer containing 1.25 mM Cs+. The influx rate constant for Cs+ was decreased by 24% in septic rat hearts, i.e., 0.25 +/- 0.08 SD min-1 for controls and 0.19 +/- 0.04 SD min-1 for septic, p = 0.003. There was no difference for Cs+ efflux (0.005 +/- 0.001 SD min-1 for controls and 0.005 +/- 0.002 SD min-1 for septic, p = 0.8). These results are consistent with an inhibition of the Na+/K+ ATPase pump during sepsis/endotoxemia. A decrease in the activity of the Na+/K+ ATPase pump may be responsible for or contribute to the changes in [Na+]i and [K+]i during the disorder.

Received 2 November 1994; accepted in final form 15 November
1996.
APS Manuscript Number C654-4.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Cell Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 31 December 1996