• Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Jun 2012

    A dose-response study of levosimendan in a porcine model of acute ischaemic heart failure.

    • Solveig Moss Kolseth, Alexander Wahba, Idar Kirkeby-Garstad, Sakari Aro, Håvard Nordgaard, Morten Høydal, Øivind Rognmo, and Dag Nordhaug.
    • Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. moss.kolseth@gmail.com
    • Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2012 Jun 1;41(6):1377-83.

    ObjectivesLevosimendan is a novel inotropic agent claimed to improve myocardial contractility by a calcium-sensitizing effect. Our aim was to evaluate dose-dependent effects of levosimendan on left ventricular (LV) contractility and energetic properties in an acute, ischaemic heart failure porcine model.MethodsSix pigs were used in an anaesthetized in vivo open-chest model. The time points of measurements were: baseline, after heart failure induction and after dose 1-4 (D1-D4). Heart failure was induced by microembolization of the left coronary artery before infusion of four different doses (D1: 2.5 µg/kg, D2: 10 µg/kg, D3: 40 µg/kg, D4: 80 µg/kg) of levosimendan. Haemodynamics were assessed by the pressure-conductance catheter technique. LV oxygen consumption was calculated from coronary flow measurements and coronary sinus blood gases. Mitochondrial respiration was studied in biopsies of the LV.ResultsLevosimendan had no significant, load-independent effect on contractile force (slope of preload recruitable stroke work was 34 mmHg immediately following failure and 39 (P = 0.406), 42 (P = 0.219), 46 (P = 0.067) and 41 (P = 0.267) at D1-D4), although the more load-dependent contractility indicator of dP/dt(max) was slightly increased at dose 4 (P < 0.05). LV energy conversion efficiency (PVA-MVO2 relationship) remained unaltered at all doses. Maximal mitochondrial respiration decreased after induction of failure and remained at an unaltered low level during levosimendan infusion.ConclusionsSurprisingly, levosimendan had no significant effect on contractility, energy efficiency and mitochondrial respiration of the LV, in a porcine model of acute heart failure. At high doses, levosimendan induced vasodilatation and increased heart rate and cardiac output.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…