Do antidysrhythmic drugs with membrane-stabilizing properties increase the ventricular fibrillation threshold in spontaneously hypertensive rats?
Spontaneously hypertensive rats have a lower ventricular fibrillation threshold than normotensive rats, and this threshold is increased by membrane-stabilizing antidysrhythmic drugs, suggesting SHR is a useful model for screening such compounds.
Induction of ventricular fibrillation by intraventricular electric pulses is achieved with weaker currents in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) than in normotensive rats of the Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) or Sprague-Dawley (SD) strains. The ventricular fibrillation threshold (VFT) is stable with time in SHR but not in WKY. Investigation of antidysrhythmic agents in SHR showed that most substances with membrane-stabilizing properties increase the VFT. There was no correlation between the elevation of VFT and the decrease in heart rate induced by the substances studied. Determination of the VFT in SHR may be useful for the screening of compounds with membrane-stabilizing properties.
Versailles et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
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