CHANGES OF ACID MUCOPOLYSACCHARIDES IN HEART INVOLVED BY AMYLOIDOSIS

The acid mucopolysaccharide composition of cardiac tissue from 5 patients with amyloidosis and from control tissue was determined. Heparitin sulfate was consistently increased in the heart and other organs with amyloid deposition. (A corollary study of experimentally induced amyloidosis closely mimicked secondary amyloidosis in man, but in addition to the marked increase of heparitin sulfate in parenchymal organs, a slight increase of this mucopolysaccharide was observed in the heart as well.) In the myocardium, particularly with primary cardiac disease, hyaluronic acid was significantly increased. The observations of acid mucopolysaccharide chemistry in amyloidosis and in diabetic kidneys and the aorta suggest that heparitin sulfate arises from mesangial cells intimately involved in the formation of blood vessels and other cardiovascular structures. Hyaluronic acid, which also increases in the heart in forms of cardiac localization of amyloid, is probably part of the general connective tissue response of the cardiac tissue to disease. © 1969.