Protective effect of preconditioning on reperfusion induced ventricular arrhythmias of isolated rat hearts

Study objective The aim was to investigate the effect of preconditioning on reperfusion induced arrhythmias in the isolated working rat heart. Design Rat hearts were perfused with modified Krebs-Henseleit bicarbonate buffer. A 15 min period of global ischaemia was performed followed by a reperfusion period of 5 min. This procedure was repeated three times. Hearts were divided into the control group (n = 10) and the free radical scavenger group (n = 11). Hearts in the latter were reperfused in the presence of scavengers (SOD 3.5 x 10(4) U.litre-1 and catalase 5.0 x 10(5) U.litre-1). Experimental material Hearts were obtained from male Sprague-Dawley rats (270-350 g). Measurements and main results The incidence of reperfusion induced ventricular fibrillation in the control group decreased from 100% to 70% (NS) and to 40% (p less than 0.01) during the second and the third reperfusion periods, respectively. In the scavenger group, the incidence of ventricular fibrillation was the same in each reperfusion period at 45%. The time to onset of ventricular fibrillation increased at the second reperfusion in both groups. Conclusions (1) The protective effect of preconditioning on reperfusion induced arrhythmia is evident in the isolated rat heart. (2) Addition of free radical scavengers reduced the incidence of reperfusion arrhythmia. However, the protective effect of preconditioning was lost.