Does infusion of glucose, insulin, and potassium increase the threshold for ventricular fibrillation in the nonischemic canine myocardium?
GIK infusion increases the electrical threshold required to induce ventricular fibrillation in a nonischemic canine model, suggesting a potential protective antiarrhythmic effect.
We studied the influence of glucose (G), insulin (I) and potassium (K + ) on vulnerability to ventricular fibrillation (VF) of the nonischemic canine myocardium. Vulnerability was assessed by determining VF and repetitive extrasystole (RE) thresholds with a single stimulus applied to the right ventricular endocardium during the vulnerable period. Electrical testing of the heart was performed before and after 1 and 2 hours of infusing G (10 mg/kg per min) and I (0.025 U/kg per min) with and without K + . Infusion of glucose, insulin, and potassium (GIK) in 11 dogs significantly increased both VF (22%) and RE (33%) thresholds within the 1st hour and only the VF threshold (64%) in the 2nd hour.
Obeid et al. (Sun,) studied this question.