Allopurinol to enhance ATP delivery to the failing heart

Allopurinol to enhance ATP delivery to the failing heart

Glenn A Hirsch, Paul A Bottomley, Gary Gerstenblith and Robert G Weiss from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have suggested that intravenous allopurinol as a means of enhancing the delivery of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the high energy phosphate molecule [1]. They randomized sixteen patients with non ischemic cardiomyopathy to either 300 mg of active drug or placebo infusion, in a double blind pattern. Myocardial concentrations of ATP, creatine phosphate and rate of synthesis of ATP were measured using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. They found that allopurinol infusion acutely improves the concentrations of ATP in the myocardium of the failing human heart.

Reference

1. Glenn A Hirsch, Paul A Bottomley, Gary Gerstenblith, Robert G Weiss. Allopurinol Acutely Increases Adenosine Triphosphate Energy Delivery in Failing Human Hearts. J Am Coll Cardiol, 2012; 59:802-808.