Reduction of heart rate by chronic β₁-adrenoceptor blockade promotes growth of arterioles and preserves coronary perfusion reserve in postinfarcted heart

Adequate growth of coronary vasculature in the remaining left ventricular (LV) myocardium after myocardial infarction (post-MI) is a crucial factor for myocyte survival and performance. We previously demonstrated that post-MI coronary angiogenesis can be stimulated by bradycardia induced with the ATP-sensitive K⁺ channel antagonist alinidine. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that heart rate reduction with β-blockade may also induce coronary growth in the post-MI heart. Transmural MI was induced in 12-mo-old male Sprague-Dawley rats by occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Bradycardia was induced by administration of the β-adrenoceptor blocker atenolol (AT) via drinking water (30 mg/day). Three groups of rats were compared: 1) control/sham (C/SH), 2) MI, and 3) MI + AT. In the MI + AT rats, heart rate was consistently reduced by 25-28% compared with C/SH rats. At 4 wk after left anterior descending coronary ligation, infarct size was similar in MI and MI + AT rats (67.1 and 61.5%, respectively), whereas a greater ventricular hypertrophy occurred in brady-cardic rats, as indicated by a higher ventricular weight-to-body weight ratio (3.4 ± 0.1 vs. 2.8 ± 0.1 mg/g in MI rats). Analysis of LV function revealed a smaller drop in ejection fraction in the MI + AT than in the MI group (∼24 vs. ∼35%). Furthermore, in MI + AT rats, maximal coronary conductance and coronary perfusion reserve were significantly improved compared with the MI group. The better myocardial perfusion indexes in MI + AT rats were associated with a greater increase in arteriolar length density than in the MI group. Thus chronic reduction of heart rate induced with β-selective blockade promotes growth of coronary arterioles and, thereby, facilitates regional myocardial perfusion in post-MI hearts.