Studies of Isolated Fetal Mouse Hearts in Organ Culture: EVIDENCE FOR A DIRECT EFFECT OF TRIIODOTHYRONINE IN ENHANCING CARDIAC RESPONSIVENESS TO NOREPINEPHRINE

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Abstract

Definitive confirmation or denial of the hypothesis that thyrotoxic hearts are supersensitive to catecholamines has been difficult to obtain, largely because secondary alterations in neural and humoral factors that occur after thyroid administration in vivo may obscure the primary changes induced by the hormone on the myocardium itself. To study the direct action of thyroid hormone apart from secondary factors, thyrotoxicosis should be induced in isolated hearts in vitro, but the slow onset of thyroid action plus the rapid deterioration of conventional in vitro preparations have precluded such experiments.

Authors

Kern Wildenthal, Jacquline R. Wakeland