Effects of hypothermia on energy metabolism in rat and richardsonos ground squirrel hearts. Belke, Darrell D., Lawrence C. H. Wang, and Gary D. Lopaschuk. Departments of Pharmacology and Pediatrics, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2S2
APStracts 3:0551A, 1996.
Glycolysis, glucose oxidation, palmitate oxidation and cardiac function were measured in isolated working hearts from ground squirrels or rats subjected to a hypothermia-rewarming protocol. Hearts were perfused initially for 30 minutes at 37oC, followed by 2 hours of hypothermic perfusion at 15oC, after which hearts were rewarmed to 37oC and further perfused for 30 minutes. Functional recovery in ground squirrel hearts was greater than in rat hearts following rewarming. Hypothermia-rewarming had a similar general effect on the various metabolic pathways in both species. Despite these similarities, total energy substrate metabolic rats were greater in rat than ground squirrel hearts during hypothermia despite a lower level of work being performed by the rat hearts, indicating that rat hearts are less efficient than ground squirrel hearts during hypothermia. Following rewarming, energy substrate metabolism recovered completely in both species, although cardiac work remained depressed in rat hearts. The difference in functional recovery between rat and ground squirrel hearts following rewarming cannot be explained by general differences in energy substrate metabolism during hypothermia or following rewarming.

Received 7 August 1996; accepted in final form 22 November 1996.
APS Manuscript Number A753-6.
Article publication pending Journal of Applied Physiology.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 31 December 1996