“…Significant functional, metabolic, and morphological changes take place in the heart in states of protein and caloric malnutrition (Sirnonson et aI., 1948;Gopalan et al, 1955;Srnythe et aL, 1962;Chauhan et al, 1965;Rarnalingaswarni, 1968;Gopalan and Srikantia, 1973;McKinney, 1974;Abel et al, 1979;Rossi et al, 1980). Since (a) the catecholamines have important inotropic and metabolic effects on the heart (Opie, 1969;Mayer, 1974;Braunwald et aI., 1976), (b) the catecholamines are myocardial hypertrophy-inducing agents (Laks et al, 1973), but they can also be destructive to the myocardium (Raab, 1953(Raab, , 1963Rona et al, 1959;Ferrans et al, 1969), (c) the catecholamines are synthesized from tyrosine and/or phenylalanine, and the ultimate source of both these amino acids is dietary protein, and (d) several prior studies have disclosed alterations in noradrenaline and adrenaline metabolism in protein-calorie malnutrition (Shoemaker and Wurtrnan, 1970;Hoeldtke and Wurtrnan, 1973;Edozien et al, 1975;Stern e t al., 1975), the current investigation has been undertaken to study the catecholamine levels in the hearts of rats subjected to protein-calorie malnutrition and a~er a period of nutritional rehabilitation.…”