Jf. Aupetit et al., CHANGE OF A BENEFICIAL EFFECT INTO AN UNTOWARD EFFECT BY ISCHEMIA - EFFECT OF QUINIDINE-LIKE DRUGS ON VULNERABILITY TO VENTRICULAR-FIBRILLATION, Environmental toxicology and pharmacology, 2(1), 1996, pp. 1-7
The effects of three quinidine-like drugs, disopyramide, lidocaine and
flecainide were investigated in anaesthetized, open-chest pigs on vul
nerability to ventricular fibrillation under normal conditions and und
er myocardial ischaemia conditions. Vulnerability to fibrillation was
evaluated by electrical ventricular fibrillation threshold (VFT), meas
ured with 100 ms duration diastolic impulses the intensity of which wa
s increased by steps of 1.0 or 0.5 mA. Impulses were delivered at the
rate of 180 beats min(-1). The ventricles were subjected to pacing at
the same rate before the VFT determination, particularly throughout pe
riods of ischaemia of increasing duration (30, 60, 90, 120, 150 s), se
parated by appropriate intervals for reproducibility of the results. M
onophasic action potential (MAP) duration and conduction time were mon
itored in the ischaemic area under pacing. Ischaemia was obtained by c
omplete occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery near
its origin. The three drugs were i.v. administered in clinical dose r
ange (1.00 mg . kg(-1) plus 0.04 mg . kg(-1). min(-1)). In the absence
of ischaemia, they increased almost equally VFT (from about 7 to 10 m
A), despite 25% prolongation of conduction time. But, none of them was
able to impede the increasingly marked fall of VFT caused by ischaemi
a: at 30 s, they had already lost any capacity for raising VFT and, be
yond this time, they even aggravated its fall which led to spontaneous
fibrillation when VFT approached 0 mA. The faster fall of VFT shorten
ed time to onset of fibrillation (20/24 fibrillations for the three dr
ugs at 150 s as against 12/24 in control period), the ischaemia-induce
d reduction of MAP duration (by 20%) being also hastened and slowing o
f conduction enhanced, given the addition of the depressant effects of
ischaemia and drugs on conduction. Consequently, the antifibrillatory
properties normally manifested by the studied drugs are first suppres
sed, then inverted by ischaemia.