Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol 73, Issue 4 1259-1264, Copyright © 1992 by American Physiological Society
Catecholamines in turkeys with alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy
G. L. Pierpont, S. Einzig, M. E. Pierpont, N. A. Staley, S. J. Reynolds and G. R. Noren
Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Minnesota 55417.
Although alcoholic cardiomyopathy has been difficult to reproduce in
animals, turkeys fed 5% ethanol develop a dilated congestive
cardiomyopathy. We therefore used this model to examine the adrenergic
response to left ventricular dysfunction induced by alcohol. In normal
turkeys, norepinephrine in kidneys decreased markedly with age from 1 day
to 2 mo, with a similar but less dramatic decrease in cardiac
norepinephrine. By 2 mo, chronic alcohol ingestion depleted cardiac
norepinephrine compared with controls (217 +/- 22 vs. 316 +/- 41 ng/g, P
< 0.05), even though cardiac norepinephrine is relatively low in turkeys
compared with many other animals and humans. Norepinephrine in aorta was
also decreased with alcohol administration, but kidney norepinephrine was
unaffected. Dopamine was unaltered in any of the organs studied. Plasma
norepinephrine is normally high in turkeys with arterial levels greater
than venous (2,898 +/- 746 vs. 1,987 +/- 531 pg/ml at 2 mo). Venous plasma
norepinephrine did not differ from control (2,595 +/- 547 pg/ml) after 2 mo
of alcohol. Thus, as in humans, cardiomyopathy in alcohol-fed turkeys is
associated with reduced cardiac norepinephrine, but unlike humans with
cardiomyopathy, circulating norepinephrine remains normal.
