Inducers of adenylate cyclase reverse the effect of leukotriene D4 in isolated working guinea pig heart

The recovery of coronary flow and cardiac work was studied in isolated guinea pig hearts (working-heart preparation) after successive bolus injections of leukotriene D4 (LTD4) at increasing doses (0.01-1,000 ng). LTD4 caused an immediate (within 1 min) reduction in coronary flow and cardiac work and an increase in myocardial NADH fluorescence. There was limited spontaneous recovery at any dose and at the end of the cumulative LTD4 study, coronary flow recovered only from 41.4 +/- (SE) 3.5 (n = 10) to 53.5 +/- 4.7% of initial values, and cardiac work recovered from 21.2 +/- 4.1 to 33.1 +/- 5.6% (P less than 0.05). Adenosine (1 X 10(-6) M) or iloprost (1 X 10(-7) M) restored coronary flow but not cardiac work after LTD4 injections, in contrast to full recovery of cardiac work observed in hearts subjected to a similar degree of ischemia induced by reducing the coronary flow by a peristaltic pump, or hypoxia caused by reducing PO2 of the perfusion fluid. Adenosine (1 X 10(-6) M) and forskolin (1 X 10(-6) M) in combination, or iloprost (1 X 10(-7) M) and isoproterenol (1 X 10(-8) M) in combination, restored both coronary flow and cardiac work to control levels. Myocardial NADH levels, which increased immediately after LTD4 injections, returned to normal after perfusion with adenosine or iloprost. The data suggest that LTD4 has a prolonged vasoconstrictive effect on the heart. Reversal of this effect by compounds that stimulate adenylate cyclase of the vascular tissue (adenosine, prostacyclin) revealed a direct suppressive effect on the myocardium independent of the vascular effect and myocardial ischemia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)