Læknablaðið : fylgirit - 01.06.1982, Page 13

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PLENARY LECTURE
LIPIDS IN HUMAN HEART MUSCLE IN RELATION TO CORONARY
ARTERY DISEASE
Sigmundur Gudbjarnason and JÓnas Hallgrímsson
University of Iceland, Reykjavík
The content and composition of phospholipids and free fatty
acids were determined in heart muscle from people that died
suddenly in accidents and from people that suffered a sudden
cardiac death.
Post mortem degradation of myocardial phospholipids indicates
that the stability of phospholipids is a function of the fatty
acid composition, more unsaturated fatty acids were released
more readily than less unsaturated fatty acids.
The fatty acid composition of myocardial phospholipids was
similar in normal and atherosclerotic hearts, except for a
significantly higher level of EPA, 2o:5n3, in atherosclerotic
hearts. In hearts with severe coronary artery stenosis the
content and composition of myocardial FFA indicated reduced
phospholipase activity and a specific impairment in arachi-
donic acid (2o:4n6) release. Sudden cardiac death in absence
of severe coronary atherosclerosis could be divided into
several groups according to the nature of myocardial lipid
alterations: a) An extremly high level of myocardial FFA in
alcoholic subjects, b) moderate increase in FFA but reduced
level of specific phosphoiipids, and c) normal lipids profile
of heart muscle.