Creatine Content of Human Hearts

Even before the important role of phosphocreatine in muscular contraction was recognized, Constabel1 noted that there was a decreased total creatine content in those human hearts that showed either clinical or post-mortem evidence of damage. Recently Cowan2 has examined a larger group of hearts, and found that myocardial failure is accompanied by a creatine content that is markedly below normal. Seecof, Linegar and Myers3, whose method for determining myocardial creatine we have employed, have also examined a series of human hearts, emphasizing particularly the higher creatine concentration in the left ventricular muscle as compared to the right ventricle.In our laboratory we have approached from several experimental angles the question of the chemical changes that initiate or accompany heart failure. Since our primary interest is clinical, we have also analyzed muscle from the left ventricle of human hearts, as this material became available from time to time.4 In Table I we have summarized creatine dete...