Norepinephrine Kinetics in Normal and Failing Myocardium: The Importance of Distributed Modeling

Abstract

As one of the few, fortunate graduate students of Carl Goresky, I would like to show in this tribute to his foresight and leadership that the concepts he originated or promoted have not only illuminated normal blood tissue transport but also led to significant insights into a clinical problem. When, as a medical student and intern, I read the Ziegler and Goresky papers on multiple indicator dilution experiments in the heart of open-chest dogs I was, above all, impressed with the capability of studying nondestructively rapid physiological and biochemical events in the in situ heart. Later, after learning the technique of closed-chest, fluoro-scopically guided coronary artery and coronary sinus catheterization, I was able to use the multiple-indicator dilution methodology in humans in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. Rarely does a student have the opportunity to transfer basic physiological concepts and techniques learned in the animal laboratory into the clinical arena with almost no alteration. Carl Goresky’s encouragement and advice were invaluable.