Why the study?
Does maximal digitalization alter the electrolyte content of heart muscle?
Does maximal digitalization alter the electrolyte content of heart muscle?
Maximal digitalization alters the electrolyte balance (potassium, calcium, sodium) in auricular and ventricular heart muscle without changing water content.
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Maximal digitalization shifts myocardial electrolytes in animals; hypothesis-generating and should not change human digitalis practice.
Maximal digitalization caused a decrease in the potassium and calcium content of auricular muscle and a gain in sodium which does not appear to compensate for the loss of potassium and calcium. Ventricular muscle showed a gain in sodium which does not appear to compensate for the loss of potassium and calcium. Ventricular muscle showed a gain in sodium in the absence of any other significant changes. 2. The changes in sodium, potassium and calcium following digitalization occurred in the absence of significant changes in the water content of the digitalized heart.
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Theodore R. Sherrod (1947) studied this question.
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