Many investigators have reported that myocardial norepinephrine content is decreased in congestive heart failure. However there have been no studies of how decrease in myocardial norepinephrine might influence myocardial contraction. To clarify whether decreased myocardial norepinephrine per se affects myocardial contraction, we observed the change in left ventricular contractility during 30 min of left stellate ganglion stimulation in control and acutely reserpinized dogs. We obtained left ventricular max dp/dt and left ventricular end-systolic pressure-segment length relationships as indicators of left ventricular contractility. Both parameters decreased after left stellate ganglion stimulation in reserpinized dogs (left ventricular max dp/dt: 2064 +/- 200 to 1608 +/- 168 mmHg/s, left ventricular end-systolic pressure-segment length slope 117 +/- 22 to 79 +/- 14 mmHg/mm, n = 8, P less than 0.05), while they did not change in controls. In reserpinized dogs, left ventricular norepinephrine content decreased to one-third that of controls before the stimulation, and further decreased after stimulation. These data indicate that lowered myocardial norepinephrine itself may be responsible for the negative effect on left ventricular contractility in congestive heart failure.