Protein metabolism in cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure

Abstract

The rate of myocardial protein synthesis was studied in hearts of normal rabbits and in hearts of animals with experimentally produced cardiac hypertrophy and with acute and chronic myocardial failure. Cardiac hypertrophy was accompanied by an increase in protein synthesis; however, there was no increased myocardial protein turnover rate. In acute heart failure the rate of myocardial protein synthesis was diminished as compared to protein synthesis during the development of cardiac hypertrophy. In chronic heart failure the relative incorporation of glycine-2-C¹⁴ into heart muscle protein was diminished. The turnover rate of myocardial proteins during cardiac hypertrophy was not altered.