High-resolution respirometry in human endomyocardial biopsies shows reduced ventricular oxidative capacity related to heart failure

Abstract

Heart failure: Energy metabolism reflects cardiac function The capacity of mitochondria in heart muscle cells to use oxygen to produce energy correlates with cardiac function. Julia Szendroedi at Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany, and colleagues have established a technique to reliably evaluate mitochondrial energy metabolism in patients with or recovering from heart failure. They showed that the mitochondrial oxidative capacity of cells in the lower heart chambers (ventricles) was significantly higher than in the upper heart chambers (atria). Moreover, they found that mitochondrial oxidative capacity was reduced by 44% in heart muscle biopsies from patients with heart failure compared with biopsies from heart transplant recipients with normal ventricular function. Stimulating the respiration rate of mitochondria in ventricular heart cells could be a promising strategy for improving cardiac function.