Association of myocardial glutamate and aspartate pool and functional recovery of postischemic heart

The effect of low flow ischemia and subsequent reperfusion with 5.5 mM glucose or 5 mM acetate on energy metabolism and catabolism of myocardial glutamate and aspartate was studied in isolated perfused guinea pig hearts. Reperfusion with acetate was followed by low recovery of the cardiac contractile function associated with a great rise in isovolumic end-diastolic pressure. It was combined with more profound losses of tissue adenine nucleotides and the total Cr compared to reperfusion with glucose. The total glutamate and aspartate pool decreased more than two-fold compared to the initial one regardless of substrate. However, glutamate content was reduced by 58 and 38% with acetate and glucose, respectively. The expenditure of both amino acids was caused by alanine formation stimulated by glycolysis/glycogenolysis. The remaining glutamate and aspartate pool in the reperfused hearts positively correlated with adenine nucleotides (r = 0.62), the total creatine (r = 0.65), and the recovery of contractile function (r = 0.64). The results suggest that the glutamate and aspartate pool may be of critical importance for postischemic functional and metabolic recovery of the heart.