Effect of cervical vagosympathectomy on myocardial catecholamine concentration

¹ Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry, Department of Surgery, Saint Louis University, and Saint Louis University Surgical Service, Veterans Administration Hospital, Saint Louis, Missouri

Dogs which survived a bilateral cervical vagosympathectomy showed a striking reduction in catecholamine concentration of right atrial tissue. Significant decreases in catecholamine concentration were noted also in the tissues of both ventricles and the interventricular septum. Unilateral cervical vagosympathectomy, either right or left, was not followed by a statistically significant decrease in the concentration of cardiac catecholamines. The cause of the depletion after bilateral cervical vagosympathectomy is not clear. It may be due to destruction of intracardiac adrenergic nerves or a relatively increased utilization of catecholamines, which exceeds the capacity of the cardiac tissues to synthesize, take up, or bind these substances. The concentrations of cardiac histamine and nitrogen were unaffected by these operative procedures.

Key Words: vagus nerve • vagotomy • cardiac innervation • cardiac denervation • nervous control of the heart

Submitted on February 18, 1965