Inhibitory effect of cardiac contraction on coronary collateral blood flow

The present study was undertaken to determine the effect of contraction on overall flow in an area supplied by collateral vessels. Changes in the distribution of blood flow across the wall of ischemic and normally perfused regions of the left ventricle were observed during normal beating and during vagal arrest. The main left coronary artery was cannulated and perfused at constant pressure (125 mmHg) using a servo pump apparatus. An ischemic area supplied by collaterals was created by ligating the left anterior descending artery. Radiomicrospheres (15 micrometer) were injected into the perfusion apparatus during beating. Then spheres with a different label were administered to the same heart during arrest. The results revealed that beating caused a gradient of blood flow inhibition from near zero at the epicardium to about 50% at the endocardium in both zones. Inhibition to flow at the mid wall of the ischemic zone, 71%, was significantly greater than that seen at the corresponding depth in the normally perfused region, 33%. These results indicate that contraction not only inhibits collateral blood flow to an ischemic region, but also that the inhibition is actually magnified at the mid wall.