Cardiac chamber-specific beta-adrenoceptor regulation and sympathetic innervation
Chester, M.R.; Barnett, D.B.
Lancet 345(8949): 553-555
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0140-6736 PMID: 7776776 Document Number: 445785
We assessed by radioligand binding techniques the effect of cardiac failure on beta-adrenoceptor density in 5 hearts from patients undergoing repeat transplantation and 5 normal (unused donor) hearts. Right ventricular total and subtype beta-adrenoceptors in the denervated repeat-transplant hearts were down-regulated compared with the normally innervated controls. Within the denervated hearts, beta-1-adrenoceptors were selectively down-regulated in the right ventricle compared with the left ventricle. Tissue noradrenaline content confirmed sympathetic denervation in the transplanted hearts. Thus, regional sympathetic innervation is not necessary for chamber-specific beta-adrenoceptor down-regulation; other mechanisms for this process should be sought.