Aldosterone and anti-aldosterone effects in cardiovascular diseases and diabetic nephropathy.

Cells in the cortical collecting duct of distal nephron have been considered for a long time as the unique cellular targets of aldosterone. However, it is now clear that other cell types in non-epithelial tissues are also potential targets for aldosterone. The functions that this hormone controls in non-epithelial tissues are still a matter of debate. Clinical and experimental studies have established that aldosterone plays a major role in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular and renal diseases. The aldosterone receptor antagonists spironolactone and eplerenone have demonstrated specific effects not related to their hypotensive properties in hypertension or cardiac diseases. It appears that a key action of these molecules is related to prevention or treatment of end-organ damage. The latter fact, and the recognition of aldosterone escape on long-term treatment of heart failure, diabetic nephropathy and some forms of hypertension with ACE inhibitors, justify the clinical use of aldosterone receptor antagonists provided that kaliemia is controlled. Experimental studies have allowed to draw a still incomplete but comprehensive scheme of aldosterone cardiovascular actions in pathological conditions. When elevated, aldosterone has deleterious effects in blood vessels, in the heart and in kidney, which are secondary to the induction of inflammatory and oxidative processes and necrosis, that induce the increased synthesis of extracellular matrix proteins.

Use of time frequency analysis to follow transitory modulation of the cardiac autonomic system in clinical studies.

Heart rate variability (HRV) can be assessed through a time frequency analysis, the smoothed pseudo Wigner-Ville transformation (SPWVT). Such an analysis has allowed the calculation of ICF, a frequential index, extremely sensitive to the modulation of the sympatho-vagal balance. The use of ICF has been applied in the present study to two clinical situations for which a role of this balance was probable, brain death and atrial fibrillation (AF). The use of the time frequency analysis immediately identified the timing of brain death. No difference could be found in the analysis of the 30 min preceding an atrial fibrillation episode. It is suggested that a time frequency analysis should be used in clinical situations in which transitory fluctuations of the sympatho-vagal balance are expected and crucial to the well being of the patients.

Simultaneous analysis of heart rate variability and myocardial contractility during head-up tilt in patients with vasovagal syncope.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate simultaneously cardiac autonomic activity, through heart rate variability (HRV) analysis, and cardiac inotropic changes during head-up tilt (HUT) in patients with recurrent vasovagal syncope. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twelve subjects implanted with a permanent dual-chamber pacemaker for recurrent vasovagal syncope characterized by marked bradycardia were studied. The tip of the right ventricular electrode was equipped with a sensor that measured peak endocardial acceleration (PEA) as an index of myocardial contractility. RR interval and PEA signals were acquired simultaneously and processed in the time and frequency (low frequencies [LF] and high frequencies [HF] of RR signal) domain during early HUT (T1), late HUT, or before syncope (T2). In the six subjects with positive HUT: (1) Abnormal heart rate oscillations were evidenced at T1 and discriminated this group from the negative group (LF/HF decreased by 46% from supine to T1, but increased by 55% in the negative group; P < 0.01 positive vs negative HUT). (2) Gradual diminution of the HF component was associated with an increase in PEA index during HUT with a correlation between PEA/RR interval (R = -0.8, P < 0.001), PEA/HF components (R = -0.6, P < 0.05). (3) Sympathetic stimulation responsible for changes in both HRV and PEA parameters occurred immediately before the faint (LF/LF+HF: 0.6 +/- 0.2 to 0.8 +/- 0.09; P < 0.05 T2 vs T1; PEA: 0.62 +/- 0.10G to 0.83 +/- 0.22G; P < 0.01 T2 vs T1). CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that a homogeneous subgroup of patients with recurrent vasovagal syncope and positive HUT exhibited abnormal cardiac autonomic and inotropic responses to an orthostatic stimulus. Continuous changes over time of HRV and PEA parameters highlight the dynamic behavior of the mechanisms leading to syncope.

Altered baroreflex gain during voluntary breathing in chronic heart failure.

BACKGROUND: We assessed the behavior of the baroreflex (BR) gain in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients using the spectral analysis method during application of a forcing stimulus, i.e. respiration. METHODS: Simultaneous RR interval and arterial pressure fluctuation recordings were obtained during two random-order periods of voluntary paced-breathing (0.15 Hz and 0.25 Hz) in seven patients with moderate CHF (NYHA class II/III; EF, 30+/-9%; peak VO(2), 18+/-5 ml kg(-1) min(-1)) and six age-matched controls. BR gain was assessed in the time (sequential method) and frequency (cross-spectral gain in the low and high frequency) domains. RESULTS: Slower breathing was associated with a BR gain decrease in CHF patients whereas a BR gain increase was evidenced in controls (BR gain: 6+/-5 ms mmHg(-1) at 0.25 Hz vs. 4+/-3 ms mmHg(-1) at 0.15 Hz, P<0.05 in CHF; BR gain: 12+/-7 ms mmHg(-1) at 0.25 Hz vs. 15+/-7 ms mmHg(-1) at 0.15 Hz, P<0.05 in controls). CONCLUSIONS: Voluntary breathing, which involves cortical centers in the brain, had major effects on cardiovascular system controller gain in CHF patients, indicating an impairment of the central neural regulation of the autonomic outflow.

Converting enzyme inhibition normalizes QT interval in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

We quantified the repolarization time (so-called QT interval) in a rat, an animal species that does not show a well-characterized T wave on surface ECG. We used spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and converting enzyme inhibition to demonstrate a reversible increase in QT interval in pressure-overloaded hearts in the absence of ischemia. An implanted telemetry system recording ECG data in freely moving rats was used to automatically calculate the RR interval. The QT duration was manually determined by use of a calibrated gauge, and a time-frequency domain analysis was used to evaluate heart rate variability. Left ventricular mass was sequentially assessed by echocardiography. Before treatment, 12-month-old SHR had higher left ventricular mass, QT and RR intervals, and unchanged heart rate variability compared with age-matched Wistar rats. A 2-month converting enzyme inhibition treatment with trandolapril reduces systolic blood pressure, left ventricular mass, and QT interval. The RR interval and heart rate variability remains unchanged. There is a positive correlation between the QT interval and left ventricular mass. The SHR is suitable for longitudinal studies on the QT interval. Thus, the detection of the QT interval reflects the phenotypic changes that occur during mechanical overload and, on the basis of these criteria, allows an in vivo determination of the adaptational process.

Functional coupling of overexpressed beta 1-adrenoceptors in the myocardium of transgenic mice.

To assess functional and cellular effects of myocardial beta 1-adrenoceptor overexpression, alterations of the beta-adrenergic signal transduction pathway and contractile function in transgenic mice with atrial overexpression of the human beta 1-adrenoceptor were investigated. Radioligand binding experiments confirmed a 5- to 6-fold increase in beta-adrenoceptor density and a 2.7-fold increase in high-affinity binding sites in atria of transgenic mice. Dose-response curves for isoprenaline-induced force of contraction showed unchanged maximum effects but significantly increased pD2 values. Basal, MnCl2- and isoprenaline-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activities did not significantly differ, whereas the Gpp(NH)p and forskolin effect tends to be reduced in transgenic mice. The level of Gi alpha (pertussis toxin-catalyzed ADP-ribosylation) was unchanged, whereas the bioactivity of Gs alpha (reconstitution experiments into S49 cyc- cell membranes) was reduced by about 19% in the transgenic group. These results suggest that overexpressed beta 1-adrenoceptors act as functional spare receptors. In addition, increased beta 1-adrenoceptor density is associated with a decrease in Gs alpha-activity.

Instant power spectrum analysis of heart rate variability during orthostatic tilt using a time-/frequency-domain method.

BACKGROUND: Spectral analysis of heart rate (HR) variability (HRV) requires, as a rule, some level of stationarity and, as a result, is inadequate to quantify biological transients. A time-/frequency-domain method (TF) was developed to obtain an instant spectral power (SP) of HRV during tilt. METHODS AND RESULTS: HR was recorded by Holter monitoring in volunteers and analyzed with a TF, the smoothed pseudo-Wigner-Ville transformation (SPWVT), with the table inclination randomly set or continuously increased while the table rotated in head-up position. (1) The SPWVT assesses, beat by beat, the instant center frequency (ICF) of the SP. ICF correlates better with instant HR than the ratio of low- (LF) to high-frequency (HF) oscillations. The transient effect of tilt is better characterized as a shift of SP toward lower frequencies than by changes in amplitudes. (2) The method evidences variations of HR from one second to another. During the passage to head-up position, the vagal withdrawal and the sympathetic activation occur nearly simultaneously, as indicated by the instant changes in both LF and HF amplitudes and ICF. (3) The averaged results of the SPWVT give results similar to those previously obtained with autoregressive algorithms. CONCLUSIONS: The SPWVT is a new tool to explore HR transitions such as periods before episodes of arrhythmias on a time scale of one beat and allows quantification of an instant frequency index (ICF) that closely reflects the instantaneous relationship between sympathetic and vagal modulations.

Cardiac hypertrophy, arrhythmogenicity and the new myocardial phenotype. II. The cellular adaptational process.

Ventricular fibrosis is not the only structural determinant of arrhythmias in left ventricular hypertrophy. In an experimental model of compensatory cardiac hypertrophy (CCH) the degree of cardiac hypertrophy is also independently linked to ventricular arrhythmias. Cardiac hypertrophy reflects the level of adaptation, and matches the adaptational modifications of the myocardial phenotype. We suggest that these modifications have detrimental aspects. The increased action potential (AP) and QT duration and the prolonged calcium transient both favour spontaneous calcium oscillations, and both are potentially arrhythmogenic and linked to phenotypic changes in membrane proteins. To date, only two ionic currents have been studied in detail: Ito is depressed (likely the main determinant in AP durations), and If, the pacemaker current, is induced in the overloaded ventricular myocytes. In rat CCH, the two components of the sarcoplasmic reticulum, namely Ca(2+)-ATPase and ryanodine receptors, are down-regulated in parallel. Nevertheless, while the inward calcium current is unchanged, the functionally linked duo composed of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanged and (Na+, K+)-ATPase, is less active. Such an imbalance may explain the prolonged calcium transient. The changes in heart rate variability provide information about the state of the autonomic nervous system and has prognostic value even in CCH. Transgenic studies have demonstrated that the myocardial adrenergic and muscarinic receptor content is also a determining factor. During CCH, several phenotypic membrane changes participate in the slowing of contraction velocity and are thus adaptational. They also have a detrimental counterpart and, together with fibrosis, favour arrhythmias.

Compensated cardiac hypertrophy: arrhythmogenicity and the new myocardial phenotype. I. Fibrosis.

The high incidence of arrhythmias in compensated cardiac hypertrophy is related to two independently regulated components-fibrosis and the adaptational phenotypic changes in membrane proteins linked to cardiac hypertrophy, and fibrosis. During the regression of hypertensive cardiopathy in middle-aged spontaneously hypertensive rats, the roles of cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis can be analysed separately, revealing that both correlate independently with arrhythmias. In an experimental model of myocardial infarction it is possible to prevent arrhythmias with propranolol at the same time as cardiac hypertrophy, despite ventricular fibrosis. Fibrosis would appear to create arrhythmias both by anatomical uncoupling and by a re-entry mechanism generated by the zig-zag propagation of the transverse waveform. Triggered activity and automaticity depend on the membrane phenotype of the cardiocyte. They also play an important role, which is aggravated by myocardial heterogeneity.

Heart rate and heart rate variability, a pharmacological target.

Heart rate varies with respiration, blood pressure, emotion, etc., and heart rate variability (HRV) is presently one of the best indices to predict fatal issues in cardiac failure and after myocardial infarction. HRV depends on various reflexes. In addition, parallel studies of HRV and the myocardial adrenergic and muscarinic transduction system in experimental models of cardiac hypertrophy (CH) have suggested that the myocardial phenotype at the sinus-node level may also play a role. A transgenic strain of mice with atrial overexpression of the beta 1-adrenergic receptors was generated with attenuated HRV, which demonstrates that the phenotype itself is a determinant of HRV. HRV is explored by noninvasive techniques, including simple determination of the standard error of the mean, time-domain analysis, and Fourier transformation. We recently developed a time and frequency domain method of analysis, the smoothed pseudo-Wigner-Ville transformation, which allows better exploration of nonstationarity. Nonlinear methods have also been applied due to the extreme complexity of the biological determinants, and have provided evidence of a chaotic attractor in certain conditions. It is proposed that in steady state a very simple process, which is not completely deterministic, could better explain intermit interval regulations than chaotic behavior. In contrast, under extreme circumstances the regulation proceeds using chaotic behavior. Arrhythmias and HRV can be quantitated in 16-month-old unanesthetized spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Ventricular premature beats are more frequent in SHR than in age-matched controls; they disappear after converting enzyme inhibition (CEI) relative to the reduction of both cardiac hypertrophy and ventricular fibrosis. HRV is attenuated in SHR, as it is in compensatory CH in humans. When CH is prevented, HRV returns to normal. CEI is therefore antiarrhythmic. Another pharmacological application of this concept concerns the bradycardic agents that may improve HRV.

A statistical analysis of sequences of cardiac interbeat intervals does not support the chaos hypothesis.

Series of cardiac interbeat intervals were recorded in 34 mice and described using an original technique. The different intervals were divided into six classes according to their lengths. The different successions of pairs of intervals were counted with the help of a software programme devoted to lexical analysis. Most of the mice showed a very similar pattern of repeated sequences of interbeat intervals, statistically different from a random distribution. One-, two- or three-dimensional chaotic discrete maps were used to generate series that were then analyzed in the same way. They failed to give a distribution pattern of repeated sequences similar to the biological ones. On the contrary, series generated using a random component, and limited in amplitude by a feed-back correction occurring when the intervals reached a lower or an upper threshold, gave distributions of values very similar to biological ones. Moreover, the natural diversity observed between mice was easily reproduced by fluctuation of these different parameters. It is suggested that a very simple process, not completely deterministic, could better explain interbeat interval regulation in normal mice than did chaotic phenomena, which need complex biological processes.

beta-Adrenergic and muscarinic receptor expression are regulated in opposite ways during senescence in rat left ventricle.

The well-known attenuated sensitivity of senescent heart to isoproterenol is accompanied by a decreased beta1-adrenergic receptors (beta1-AR) density, a down regulation process which may involve several molecular modifications and whose understanding is incomplete. Data concerning the M2-R muscarinic receptors (M2-R) are more contradictory. Both the absolute and relative concentrations of beta1-AR and M2-R as well as the coupling protein G alpha s and G alpha(i2) mRNAs were determined by slot-blot analysis in the left ventricles (LVs) of 6-7 week and 22-month-old male Wistar rats. In addition, the beta-AR and M2-R densities were quantitated by radioactive ligand binding. (1) The M2-R mRNA concentration increases by 92+/-32% in senescent as compared to adult animals; by contrast, the density in M2-R remains unchanged, suggesting that the M2-R expression was not exclusively regulated at a pre-translational level. (2) The beta1-AR mRNA concentration was nearly halved (reduced by 46+/-9.5%) and paralleled the 51+/-5.6% diminution of the beta-AR density which resulted exclusively from the decrease of beta1-AR density without change in the beta2-AR concentration, suggesting a pre-translational regulation of the beta1-AR expression. (3) G alpha(i2) mRNA concentration was unchanged, while G alpha s mRNA concentration was reduced by 26+/-4.6% in senescent compared with adult LVs. To conclude, the different components of the adrenergic and muscarinic systems are differentially regulated during aging.

Myocardial determinants in regulation of the heart rate.

Heart rate is a function of at least three factors located in the sinus node, including the pacemaker and the activity of the sympathetic and vagal pathways. Heart rate varies during breathing and exercising. The is far from being a purely academic question because, after myocardial infarction or in cardiac insufficiency, reduced heart rate variability (HRV) represents the most valuable prognostic factor. HRV is usually considered index of the sympathovagal balance and is explored using time domain analysis, such as spectral analysis. Nevertheless, methods such as the Fast Fourier Transformation are not applicable to small rodents which have an unstable heart rate with asymmetric oscillations. Nonlinear methods show chaotic behavior under some conditions. A time and frequency domain method of analysis, the Wigner-Villé Transform, has been proposed for the study of HRV in both humans and small rodents, as a compromise between linear and nonlinear methods. We developed a method to quantify both arrhythmias and HRV in unanesthetized rodents. Such a method allows study of the relationship between the physiological parameters and the myocardial phenotype. Ventricular premature beats are more frequent in 16-month-old spontaneously hypertensive rats than in age-matched controls. In addition, HRV is attenuated in spontaneously hypertensive rats, as in compensatory cardiac hypertrophy in humans, and such attenuation is considered a prognostic index. Converting enzyme inhibition reduces in parallel arterial hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy, and ventricular fibrosis; it prevents ventricular premature beats and normalizes heart rate variability. It can be demonstrated that the incidence of ventricular premature beats is linked to the myocardial phenotype in terms of both cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. The two factors act as independent variables. HRV is correlated with the incidence of arrhythmias, suggesting that the beneficial effects of converting enzyme inhibition are related to prevention of arrhythmias.

Decreased heart rate variability in transgenic mice overexpressing atrial beta 1-adrenoceptors.

Heart rate variability (HRV) depends on various reflexes, including the baroreflex or respiratory reflex. Experimental studies have suggested that the sinoatrial node density in G protein-linked receptors may be involved. Transgenic mice, with a specific eightfold atrial overexpression of human beta 1-adrenoceptor (beta 1-AR), have been generated to evaluate the role of the atrial beta 1-AR density on HRV. The heart rate was monitored using telemetry, and the signal was analyzed using a quantitative time-frequency domain analysis, the smoothed pseudo-Wigner-Ville method, and phase portrait maps. 1) Heart rate was unchanged, but the two normal components of HRV were decreased in transgenic mice. Transgenic mice have an unshortened life span and no arrhythmias. 2) Challenge of the animals by propranolol showed no modulation of the HRV in transgenic mice compared with controls. 3) In isolated atrial strips from transgenic mice, basal contractility was increased and there was no isoproterenol-induced inotropic effect. 4) The basal level of adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate production was lowered in transgenic mice, suggesting a shift in adenylate cyclase isoforms.

Linear and non-linear analyses of heart rate variability: a minireview.

To complete traditional time- and frequency-domain analyses, new methods derived from non-linear systems analysis have recently been developed for time series studies. A panel of the most widely used methods of heart rate analysis is given with computations on mouse data, before and after a single atropine injection.

Phenotypic determinants of heart rate variability in cardiac hypertrophy and failure.

Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) has a strong predictive value in terms of sudden death, as compared to other prognostic criteria, but it has never been previously studied in experimental models of cardiac hypertrophy and failure. However, it has been quantified in rats using Holter monitoring and the peak and trough method of analysis. In normal rats, as in humans, short and long oscillations, sensitive, respectively, to atropine and propranolol were detected. Both correlate with heart rate. Cardiothyrotoxicosis was characterized by tachycardia and, independently, by a pronounced alteration in long oscillations. HRV was normal in compensatory cardiac hypertrophy due to aortic stenosis, but in this model the normal correlation existing between HRV and heart rate had disappeared. It is suggested that the main determinants of the above modifications of HRV are the changes in the new myocardial phenotype observed in terms of beta-adrenoceptor and muscarinic densities.

Heart rate variability in two models of cardiac hypertrophy in rats in relation to the new molecular phenotype.

The analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) provides information on neural control of the heart. We investigated HRV in normal rats and in models of experimental cardiac hypertrophy using the Holter monitoring and peak/trough method. In normal rats, two heart rate oscillations with different wavelengths, high frequency (HF) and low frequency (LF) oscillations, were detected. The HF oscillations were insensitive to propranolol and suppressed by atropine. The LF oscillations were sensitive to both antagonists. Thyrotoxicosis resulted in cardiac hypertrophy (+20%) and tachycardia. The HF oscillations were unchanged, whereas LF oscillations were hampered at low heart rate in this group. Aortic stenosis resulted in cardiac hypertrophy (+53%), but heart rate oscillations were unchanged. The (number x amplitude) product for both types of oscillations correlated with heart rate in controls but not in the thyrotoxicosis or aortic stenosis models. Alterations of HRV in cardiac hypertrophy occur in rats as in humans. They may reflect the changes in the molecular components of the adrenergic/muscarinic system, which defines the new myocardial phenotype.

Specific atrial overexpression of G protein coupled human beta 1 adrenoceptors in transgenic mice.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to develop a transgenic mouse model of atrial beta 1 adrenoceptor overexpression in order to create atrial alteration of the receptor transduction system. METHODS: Transgenic founders were generated after microinjection of the transgene construct into the pronucleus of fertilised mouse eggs. Heterozygous progeny were screened for RNA expression of the human beta 1 adrenoceptor gene under the control of a 0.56 kb proximal promoter of the human atrial natriuretic factor. One line, out of the three obtained, was selected and further characterised for overexpression of the human beta 1 adrenoceptor. Polymerase chain reaction was employed to detect beta 1 adrenoceptor mRNA, and 125I-cyanopindolol (ICYP) binding assays were used to quantify receptors in heart membranes. A quantitative autoradiographic ICYP binding technique was also used to visualise atrial and ventricular beta adrenoceptors in heart sections. RESULTS: The human beta 1 adrenoceptor was overexpressed specifically in the atria of transgenic mice. The level of the beta 1 adrenoceptor was 5-10-fold higher in transgenic mice compared to basal murine beta 1 adrenoceptors in non-transgenic control mice. Left and right atrial receptor overexpression was confirmed by in vitro autoradiography. The human receptors were able to couple to the murine stimulatory G proteins (Gs), as shown by high affinity binding site dosage using the beta adrenoceptor agonist isoprenaline. Isoprenaline displacement studies allowed the determination of two different affinity sites, one of high affinity (KH = 5.8 nM), and one of low affinity (KL = 520 nM). When expressed in terms of protein density (fmol.mg-1), atrial transgenic beta 1 adrenoceptors displayed a threefold increase in high affinity sites (KH) as compared to control mice. Preliminary electrocardiographic data showed supraventricular premature beats in 6/14 transgenic mice v 2/16 control mice. CONCLUSIONS: These transgenic mice may provide a useful pharmacological tool to investigate the pathophysiological consequences of the overactivation of atrial beta 1 adrenoceptor-adenylyl cyclase signalling system.

Beta adrenergic and muscarinic receptors in compensatory cardiac hypertrophy of the adult rat.

The beta adrenergic (beta AR) and muscarinic (MR) receptors have been quantitated in parallel, using 125I-pindolol and 3H-quinuclidinylbenzilate, in a model of compensatory left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (LVH), which developed in rats 4-6 weeks after an abdominal aortic stenosis. Since aortic banding resulted in a pronounced LVH of 62%, the results were expressed both in terms of density (fmol/mg protein) and quantity (fmol per LV). In addition, competition curves using either a specific beta 1-antagonist or isoproterenol or carbachol allowed the determination of the two beta AR subtypes and of the low and high affinity sites (defined by the inhibitory constant Ki) for both beta 1AR and MR. In LVH, receptor density decreased for each of total beta AR, beta 1AR subtype, high affinity (Ki 6-8 nM) beta 1AR sites (from 26 +/- 2 to 19 +/- 3 fmol/mg protein, P < 0.05), total MR and high affinity (Ki 12 nM) MR sites (from 63 +/- 6 to 40 +/- 4 fmol/mg protein, P < 0.001). The beta AR and MR densities dropped in parallel so that the MR/beta AR ratio remained unchanged. In sharp contrast (because the LVs were bigger) the quantities of total beta AR, beta 1AR subtype, beta 1AR high affinity sites, total MR and MR high affinity sites per LV were unmodified.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Triiodothyronine therapy in open-heart surgery: from hope to disappointment.

A controversy persists as to whether cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) decreases plasma levels of triiodothyronine (T3), thereby justifying peri-operative administration of T3 to improve haemodynamic recovery. To examine the effects of T3 therapy on post-CPB haemodynamics and to determine whether the potential inotropic effects of T3 are mediated by an increase in beta-adrenergic responsiveness, a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was performed in 20 patients undergoing cardiac surgery with CPB. T3 or placebo solution (10 patients in each group) was given intravenously at the time of aortic unclamping and 4, 8, 12 and 20 h thereafter. End points included (1) thyroid hormone levels measured by radioimmunoassay (2) standard haemodynamic parameters (3) the density of lymphocyte beta-adrenoceptors measured by a radioligand (125I-iodocyanopindolol) binding technique. Post-CPB values (cross clamp removal) of T3 (pg.ml-1) were not significantly decreased compared with pre-CPB values: 3.3 +/- 0.2 vs 3.1 +/- 0.2 in controls and 3.3 +/- 0.4 vs 3.7 +/- 0.6 in T3-treated patients, respectively. The haemodynamic parameters were no different between the two groups at any postoperative time point. Likewise, density and affinity of lymphocyte beta-adrenoceptors were not significantly different from pre-operative values in either group. Thus, there seems to be no sound justification for a routine use of T3 in patients undergoing open-heart procedures.