Markers of susceptibility to cardiac arrhythmia in experimental spinal cord injury and the impact of sympathetic stimulation and exercise training

Injury to descending autonomic (sympathetic) pathways is common after high-level spinal cord injury (SCI) and associated with abnormal blood pressure and heart rate regulation. In individuals with high-level SCI, abnormal sympathovagal balance (such as during autonomic dysreflexia; paroxysmal hypertension provoked by sensory stimuli below the injury) is proarrhythmogenic. Exercise training is a key component of SCI rehabilitation and management of cardiovascular disease risk, but it is unclear whether exercise training influences susceptibility to cardiac arrhythmia. We aimed to evaluate: (i) whether susceptibility to arrhythmia increases in a rodent-model of SCI; (ii) the impact of the sympathomimetic drug dobutamine (DOB) on arrhythmia risk; (iii) whether exercise training ameliorates arrhythmia risk. Twenty-one Wistar rats were divided into 3 subgroups: T2-contusive SCI (T2, n = 7), T2-contusive SCI completing passive hindlimb cycling training (PHLC, n = 7), and T10-contusive SCI (T10, n = 7). Known electrocardiographic arrhythmia markers and heart rate variability parameters were evaluated before (PRE), 1-week (POST) and 5-weeks post-SCI (TERM) at baseline and during DOB infusion (30 μg/kg/min). Baseline markers of arrhythmia risk were increased in both T2 and T10 animals. DOB decreased R-R interval (p < 0.001), and increased markers of risk for ventricular arrhythmia, particularly in high-level (T2) animals (p < 0.05). Exercise training blunted the exacerbation of markers of arrhythmia risk in the presence of DOB. Markers of risk for cardiac arrhythmia are increased in experimental SCI, and DOB further increases arrhythmia risk in high-level SCI. Exercise training did not improve markers of arrhythmia risk at rest, but did ameliorate markers of arrhythmia risk during sympathetic stimulation.