[Changes in metallothionein content of the heart and liver during acute myocardial infarction in rats].

Metallothionein (MT) is an important endogenous anti-injury substance involved in the defensive system. In myocardial infarction model produced by left coronary artery occlusion in-rat, the content of left ventricular myocardial MT was significantly increased to a maximum on 4th day by 6-fold compared with preoperative value, and the content of hepatic MT increased by 3.5-fold on the 2nd day. During the whole experimental period (seven days) the MT content in heart and liver was significantly higher than those in the pre-operation period (P less than 0.01). Pretreatment with reserpine did not alter the dynamic changes of cardiac and liver MT content during myocardial infarction. The above results suggest that this increase in tissue MT is not influenced by catecholamine.