Water, Nitrogen, and Electrolyte Content of Right and Left Ventricular Walls and Interventricular Septum of Normal Canine Hearts

Abstract

The water, nitrogen, and electrolyte content of the normal canine myocardium partitioned as right ventricle, septum, and left ventricle are presented on a connective tissue-free basis as well as fat-free and blood-free. Considering the tissue on a fat-free, blood-free, connective tissue-free basis, the extracellular phase (expressed as g/kg heart muscle) of the left ventricle was 86% that of the right ventricle; that of the septum was 91% that of the right ventricle. In all three segments, cell water was constant at 77%. One kilogram of myocardial cells contains 29.7 g of noncollagenous protein nitrogen, 116 mEq of potassium, 26 mEq of magnesium, and is associated with 0.3 (septum and left ventricle) and 0.53 (right ventricle) mEq of calcium.