This preclinical study demonstrates that the initiation of atrial fibrillation is dependent on critical transmembrane fluxes of sodium and potassium ions driven by transient increases in cell membrane permeability.
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Hypothesis-generating for ion flux thresholds in fibrillation; leaves open clinical translation pending human studies.
A study of fibrillation induced in isolated rabbit atria by stimulating at high frequencies (600–1200 cycles/min.) in presence of acetylcholine revealed it to be dependent on the ionic composition of the medium. The effects of varying the Na, K and Ca ion content of the bath fluid on the incidence of fibrillation are interrupted on the basis that fibrillation only begins at a time when the transmembrane flux of Na and K ions exceeds a critical rate. Evidence is presented that the initiation and maintenance of fibrillation are governed by separate physico-chemical processes. The onset of fibrillation results from a sudden transient increase in cell membrane permeability. This latter reaction sets off other biochemical processes which maintain the phenomenon.
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Holland et al. (1958) studied this question.
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