Changes of Monophasic Action Potential Duration and Effective Refractory Period of Three Layers Myocardium of Canine during Acute

Summary： The effect of acute ischemia on the electrophysiological characteristics of the three layers myocardium of canine in vivo was investigated. Twelve canines were divided into two groups randomly： acute ischemia （AI） group and sham operation （SO） group. By using the monophasic action potential （MAP） technique, MAP and effective refractory period （ERP） of the three layers myocardium were measured by specially designed plunge needle electrodes and the transmural dispersion of repolarization （TDR） and transmural dispersion of ERP （TDE） were analyzed. The results showed that in the AI group, MAP duration （MAPD） was shortened from 201.67±21.42 ms to 169.50±13.81 ms （P〈0.05）, but ERP prolonged to varying degrees and TDE increased during ischemia. In the SO group, MAPD and ERP did not change almost. Among of the three layers myocardium of canine, MAPD was coincident in two groups. It was concluded that during acute ischemia, MAPD was shortened sharply, but there was no significant difference among of the three layers myocardium. The prolonged ERP was concomitant with increased TDE during acute ischemia, which may play an important role in the occurrence of arrhythmias induced by acute ischemia. These findings may have important implications in arrhythmogenesis.

Effects of Electric Stimulations Applied during Absolute Refractory Period on Cardiac Function of Rabbits with Heart Failure

The effects of electric currents applied during absolute refractory period （ARP） on the cardiac function of rabbits with heart failure due to myocardial infarction （MI）, and the safety of this method were investigated. Thirty rabbits were randomly assigned equally to 3 groups： sham-operated group, LV-anterior wall cardiac contractility modulation （LV-CCM） group, and septum-CCM （S-CCM） group. A thoracotomy was performed on all the rabbits. Electric pulses were delivered during the ARP on the anterior wall of left ventricle in CCM group and in the septum in S-CCM group, respectively. The left ventricular systolic pressure （LVSP） and maximum positive left ventricular pressure change （＋dp/dtmax）, heart rates, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation were observed. It was found that, as compared with the baseline, LVSP, and ＋dp/dtmax were significantly increased, on average, by 15.2% and 19.5% in LV-CCM group （P〈0,05）, and by 8.5% and 10.8% in S-CCM group （P〈0.05）. LVEDP was significantly decreased and -dp/dtmx increased both in LV-CCM group and S-CCM group （P〈0.05）. CCM had no effect on heart rate and induced no arrhythmia in short time. It is concluded that electric currents delivered during the ARP could significantly enhance the contractility of myocardium safely, suggesting that CCM stimulation is a novel potent method for contractility modulation.

Effects of Electric Stimulations Applied During Absolute Refractory Period on Ventricular Muscle from Rabbits

Objectives To investigate the influences of electric signals applied during absolute refractory period (ARP) on the contractility of isolated papillary muscle from rabbits. Methods Papillary muscle was exercised from the right ventricle and was paced at 1 Hz. Biphasic square wave current pulse was delivered during the absolute refractory period (called CCM) in isolated, superfused, isometrically contractility rabbit papillary muscle. The peak tension (PT) of papillary muscle, as well as maximum positive tension change ( + dT/dtmax), were observed. Results Compared with the baseline, both PT and + dT/dtmax significantly increased during CCM stimulation by 18.2% and 21.4% respectively (P < 0. 05) . In addition, PT increased significantly with one or two beats following CCM signal application and reached a. new steady state level after a few beats. Once the CCM signals were turned off, the PT returned to the approximately baseline level ( P < 0. 05). Moreover, the effect of CCM on PT was dose - response to voltage. The obvious effect was at higher voltage. No effect was observed at lower voltage. Conclusions Electric signals delivered during the absolute refractory period can rapidly enhance the contractility of myocardium, which suggests that CCM signal is a novel potent method for contractility modulation.

Effects of Amiodarone on Transmural Dispersion of Ventricular Effective Refractory Periods across Myocardial Layers in the Normal and Hypertrophic Canine Heart

The effects of amiodarone on transmural dispersion of ventricular effective refractory periods （ERPs） in the normal and hypertrophic canine heart were investigated in vivo. By using the programmed stimulation protocol, the ERPs of epicardium （Epi）, midmyocardium （Mid） and endocardium （Endo） were measured by inserting specially-designed electrodes into the three myocardial layers before and after mainlining of amiodarone. No significant ERPs-dispersion was observed in the three layers before and after mainlining of amiodarone in the normal group. In contrast, ERPs of all the three layers were prolonged in the hypertrophic heart, while the ERPs-dispersion was reduced significantly after mainlining of amiodarone. The ERPs-dispersion was significantly increased in the hypertrophic heart but not in the normal heart using ＂long-short＂ and ＂short-long＂ interval stimulation technique. It was concluded that （1） the differences in ERPs-dispersion among the three layers were significant in hypertrophic heart, and differences were not significant in normal canine heart; （2） ERPs of each three-myocardial layers were significantly prolonged after using amioda- rone, but the ERPs-dispersion decreased in hypertrophic heart and （3） the programmed extrastimulus technique of ＂long-short＂ and ＂short-long＂ intervals increased the transmural ERPs-dispersion in the hypertrophic heart.

Effect of β_3-adrenoceptors on Ventricle Fibrillation Threshold and Effective Refractory Period in Rats With Heart Failure

Objectives To observe the effect of β3-Adrenoceptor （AR） on ventricle fibrillation threshold （VFT） and effective refractory period （ERP） in rats with heart failure. Methods Rats were randomized into control group and heart failure group. The expression of β3-ARmRNA was detected with RTPCR; The VFT, ERP, LVESP,LVEDP, ＋dp/dtmax and -dp/dtmax was measured at the same time with administration of BRL37344 （ 2 nmol / kg, β3- AR agonist）. Results ①Both the expression of β3-AR mRNA and the proportion increased in rats with heart failure in comparison with control rats （0.028 vs. 0.011 and 5.4% vs 1.2%, P 〈 0.05）;② ERP was longer in rats with heart failure than control group （70.5±5.5 ms vs 59.5±6.4ms, P 〈 0.05） and there was no difference of ERP in rats with heart failure with administration of BRL37344 （73.0±4.8 ms vs 70.5± 5.5 ms, P 〉0.05）; ③VFT was lower in rats with heart failure than control group（10.9±0.8 mv vs 30.5± 1.3 mv, P〈 0.05） and decreased obviously in rats with heart failure with administration of BRL37344 （7.1±0.6 mv vs 10.9±0.8 mv, P 〈 0.05） ; The decrease of VFT correlated with the effect on LVESP, ＋dp/ dtmax,-dp/dtmax of BRL37344 and the expression of β3-AR mRNA （correlation coefficient： 0.788, 0.708, 0.759, 0.787; P 〈 0.05）. Conclusions The expression of β3-AR mRNA of left ventricle was obviously increased in rats with heart failure, and activation of β3-AR had no effect on ERP but could decreased VFT which correlated with the effect of β3-AR on LVESP, ＋dp/dtmax, -dp/dtmax and the expression of β3-AR mRNA.

Effects of Electrical Stimulation During Absolute Refractory Period on Contraction and Relaxation of Cardiomyocytes from Normal Guinea - pigs

Objectives To investi-gate the effect of electrical stimulation during absolute refractory period on contraction and relaxation of ventricular myocytes from normal guinea - pigs. Methods The guinea - pig ventricular myocytes were obtained by enzyme digesting, and the extent of its contraction and relaxation and Ca2+ transient were recorded through the motion edge detection system. Results (1) The contracting extent of guinea - pig ventricular myocytes increased 15.45±6.48% , and the peak velocity of shorting (contraction) and the peak veloci ty of relengthening (relaxation) increased 15.97 ± 8.37% and 21. 63±8. 06% respectively (n = 10); (2) The extent of ventricular myocytes fluorescence ra tio(360/380) (F360/F380) increased 22. 55±9. 08%, and the peak velocity of ventricular myocytes F360 /F380 increased 36. 75 ± 9. 77% and 23. 62±4. 47% during shorting and relengthening respectively (n = 6) . Conclusions Appropriate electrical stimulation may strengthen the contracting and relaxing function of normal guinea - pig ventricular myocytes.

Variation of repetitive cortical spreading depression waves is related with relative refractory period： a computational study

Cortical spreading depression （CSD） is an important experimental model for diseases such as stroke, epilepsy and migraine. Previous observations indicated that the amplitude and velocity of the typical direct current potential shift during repetitive CSD waves were varying. The recovery state of the tissue was found related with the variation of successive CSD waves. A computational model in this paper aimed to investigate the role of relative refractory period of CSD. This model simulated that continuous injection of KCI solution induced repetitive CSD waves. The first CSD wave often had a larger amplitude and faster velocity than those of the succeeding secondary waves. The relative refractory period lasted much longer than the recovery of ions turbulence. If the induction interval was long enough for recovery, a series of CSD waves would have the same profile asthe first one. In the relative refractory period, an early stimulation might lead to a late initiation of CSD, i.e., ＂haste makes waste＂. The amplitude and velocity of CSD waves were found increasing with the initiation interval and asymptotic to those of the first CSD wave. This study verified that the propagation dynamics of CSD waves is modulated by the relative refractory period. It suggested that the refractory period is critical for preventing undesirable CSD waves.

Visual Dominance Effect upon Passing the Central Bottleneck of Information Processing

Background： In the classical psychological refractory period （PRP） paradigm, two stimuli are presented in brief succession, and participants are asked to make separate speeded responses to both stimuli. Due to a central cognitive bottleneck, responses to the second stimulus are delayed, especially at short stimulus-onset asynchrony （SOA） between the two stimuli. Although the mechanisms of dual-task interference in the classical PRP paradigm have been extensively investigated, specific mechanisms underlying the cross-modal PRP paradigm are not well understood. In particular, it remains unknown whether the dominance of vision over audition manifests in the cross-modal PRP tasks. The present study aimed to investigate whether the visual dominance effect manifessts in the cross-modal PRP paradigm. Methods： We adapted the classical PRP paradigm by manipulating the order of a visual and an auditory task： the visual task could either precede the auditory task or vice versa, at either short or long SOAs. Twenty-five healthy participants took part in Experiment 1, and thirty-three new participants took part in Experiment 2. Reaction time and accuracy data were calculated and further analyzed by repeated-measures analysis of variance. Results： The results showed that visual precedence in the Visual-Auditory condition caused larger impairments to the subsequent auditory processing than vice versa in the Auditory-Visual condition： a larger delay of second response was revealed in the Visual-Auditory condition （ 135 ± 10 ms） than the Auditory-Visual condition （88 ± 9 ms）. This effect was found only at the short SOAs tinder the existence of the central bottleneck, but not at the long SOAs. Moreover, this effect occurred both when the single visual and the single auditory task were of equal difficulty in Experiment I and when the single auditory task was more difficult than the single visual task in Experiment 2. Conclusion： Results of the two experiments suggested that the visual dominance effect occurred under the central bottleneck of cognitive processing.

Effects of Amiodarone plus Losartan on Electrical Remodeling in Rapid Atrial Pacing in Rabbits

Objectives To investigate the electrical remodeling and the effects of amiodarone and losartan on electrical remodeling in rapid atrial pacing on rabbit model. Methods 40 normal rabbits were randomly divided into 4 groups ： the saline group （control group）, amiodarone group, losartan group, anti ＋ los group. All rabbits were raised drugs in a week. The atrial effective refractory period （AERP） was measured. Then, take a rapid atrial pacing （600 bpm） and the AERP was measured after 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours pacing and 30 minutes after the termination of rapid pacing. Results （1） In control group, after 8 hours rapid pacing, AERP200 and AERP150 were significantly shortened 16. 11% ± 3.1% （ P 〈 0. 01 ） and 9. 99 % ± 4. 2% （ P 〈 0. 01 ）. And the degree of AERP shortening induced by rapid pacing was greater at basic cycle lengths of 200 ms （BCL200） than that at BCL150. The AERP of amiodarone, losartan group and ami ＋ los group were not shortened during rapid pacing. （2） In the control group, after the termination of rapid pacing, the AERP gradually increased. The AERP at all of the BCLS examined recovered to almost the 95.78% and 96. 76% of baseline values within the first 10 minutes and recovered to almost the 99.07% and 99.39% of baseline values within the first 30 minutes. Conclusions Short-term atrial rapid pacing can induce the atrial electrical remodeling. Amiodarone and losartan can prevent the electrical remodeling.