Amiodarone Pretreatment Effects on Ischemic Isovolumic Rat Hearts

Effects of amiodarone injected intravenously (i.v.) at two doses (10 and 20 mg/kg) on perfused isovolumic rat hearts were assessed by P-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). P-31 NMR is used to measure intracellular myocardial pH, phosphocreatine (PCr), and ATP contents time evolutions. Myocardial mechanical function is estimated by heart rate (HR), left ventricular developed pressure (LVP), and coronary flow (CF). In experimental procedure A (2-h retrograde perfusion), drug injection induced a dose-dependent bradycardia (10-20%) and a slight decrease in LVP but did not affect CF, pH, PCr, or ATP contents. Experimental procedure B consisted of 30-min stabilization, 18-min ischemia, and 72-min reperfusion. During ischemia, amiodarone did not preserve ATP and PCr pools and did not alleviate acidosis. ATP decreased to 30% of its control values, whereas the PCr peak was hardly detectable after 12 min of ischemia. After 24 min of reflow, HR, PCr, and pH of treated hearts recovered. LVP recovered after 36 min, whereas for control hearts, HR, PCr, and pH recovered after 42 min and LVP did not reach its control values at the end of reperfusion time. Faster pH recovery is explained by a preservation of Na+/K+ ATPase due to the influence of amiodarone on membrane lipid dynamics.