Endotoxemia can cause profound myocardial dysfunction contributing to hypotension and shock. Overproduction of nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated as a cause of the myocardial dysfunction of sepsis. Here, we tested the hypothesis that myocyte-specific overexpression of NO synthase 3 (NOS3) can prevent cardiac dysfunction in endotoxin-challenged mice. Echocardiographic measurements were obtained before and 4 and 7 h after intraperitoneal challenge with endotoxin (Escherichia coli 0111:B4

more »

... lysaccaride 50 mg/ kg) in wild-type C57BL6 mice (WT) and WT mice with myocyte-specific overexpression of NOS3 (TG), using a 13-MHz ultrasound probe (Sequoia, Acuson, Mountain View, CA). Invasive measurements of LV pressure and volume were obtained with a 1.4F pressure-volume catheter (SPR-839, Millar Instruments, Houston TX) (7 h after challenge with endotoxin or saline). At baseline, WT and TG mice had comparable measures of LV function. However, as assessed by echocardiography, the endotoxin-induced decrease in LV fractional shortening was attenuated in TG mice (from 54 ± 1 to 40 ± 1%) as compared to WT mice (from 56 ± 1 to 31 ± 2%). Invasive hemodynamics revealed that, compared to salinechallenged mice, dP/dt max and cardiac output (CO) were markedly impaired in WT but not in TG 7 h after endotoxin challenge (Table 1) . Myocyte-specific overexpression of NOS3 prevented endotoxin-induced reduction of minimally load-independent measures of LV function, including maximal power divided by end-diastolic volume (PMX EDV ), dP/ dt max divided by instantaneous pressure (dP/dt max /IP) and LV end-systolic elastance (Ees). These results suggest that myocyte-specific overexpression of NOS3 confers protection against endotoxin-induced myocardial dysfunction.