Chronic alcoholic cardiomyopathy. Protection of the isolated ischaemic working heart by ribose

The effects of ribose on the pre- and post-ischaemic functional performance of the isolated working heart from 24 month old chronically alcoholic animals was investigated. The improved perfusion model permitted the isolated heart to perform work analogous to that of the normal physiological load, in a system where systemic pressure and atrial pressure could be altered over a wide range and oxygen loss from the perfusion fluid was a minimum. There was a remarkable improvement in the performance of isolated hearts taken from alcoholic animals that were perfused with 1.7 mM ribose both before and after a 25.0 min period of global myocardial ischaemia (at 25 degrees C), however ribose treatment did not greatly affect the performance of hearts of isocaloric control aged rats. Chronic alcohol consumption significantly affected heart performance, causing a marked reduction in both cardiac and work output. After ischaemia the work of all hearts was notably decreased; there was no work output in untreated hearts of alcoholic animals, whereas in hearts of alcoholic animals treated with ribose work output was only decreased by 35%. The acute response to ribose by hearts of aged chronically alcoholic animals suggests a role for this compound as a positive inotropic agent and clearly indicates the beneficial potential of ribose for inclusion in cardioplegic solutions or for infusion in alcoholic subjects showing signs of heart failure or chronic heart disease.