Derangement of autonomic nerve control in rat with right ventricular failure

The effects of right ventricular hypertrophy and eventual right ventricular failure on autonomic nerve regulation of heart rate variability were investigated using rats with monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary hypertension. ECG signals were obtained from a radio transmitter placed into the subcutaneous pouch in the back of the male MCT-treated and control rats for 30 min every 6 h at a sample rate of 5 kHz with or without injection of atropine (2 mg/kg I.P.) or propranolol (4 mg/kg I.P.), in a room equipped with a climate controller. Heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV) were analyzed in each group by power spectrograms obtained by the fast-Fourier transform algorithm. The RR interval, total power (TP), low-frequency (LF) power (0.04-0.73 Hz), high-frequency (HF) power (0.73-2 Hz) and LF/HF (L/H) ratio were measured. HR was significantly increased in the MCT-treated rats (P<0.001), which also presented lower HRV than that of the control Wistar rats; TP (P<0.05) and HF (P<0.05) power, but not the L/H ratio, were significantly lower than that of the control rats. Responses of these parameters to a muscarinic antagonist (atropine: 2 mg/kg) and a beta-adrenergic antagonist (propranolol: 4 mg/kg), however, remained intact in the MCT-treated rats. Only the parasympathetic component of autonomic nervous controls of HRV was deranged in rats with MCT-induced right ventricular failure.