Pauly DF, Pepine CJ. D-Ribose as a supplement for cardiac energy metabolism.
J Cardiovasc Pharmacol Ther. 2000 Oct;5(4):249-58.
The use of ribose use in patients with stable coronary artery disease improves time to exercise-induced angina and electrocardiographic changes. Nucleotides (ATP, ADP, and AMP) are degraded and lost from the heart muscle, where the ability to resynthesize ATP is limited by the availabilitgy of D-ribose — a necessary component of the adenine nucleotide structure.
During thallium imaging or dobutamine stress echocardiography, ribose is reported to help with detection of hybernating myocardium. Myocardial hybernation is a chronically developing area of subnormal contractility with metabolic switch to anaerobic glycolysis as an adaptation of the myocardium to chronic ischemia in an area of a stenotic artery.
