Effects of hypoxia and reoxygenation on regular contractions and postrest contraction in rat papillary muscles

The effects of hypoxia and reoxygenation on regular contractions and postrest contractions (PRC) of papillary muscle of rats were studied. Isometric tension was measured during two cycles of hypoxia and reoxygenation. Trains of 80 externally continuous stimulations at 40/min were applied. PRCs were evoked by a stimulus train after a 60 sec resting interval. After 90 min of hypoxia (the first hypoxia period), regular contractions and PRCs decreased to 5.6 +/- 2.0% and 23.4 +/- 2.4% of baseline values, respectively (p less than 0.001; n = 18). After 90 min of reoxygenation, the recovery of the PRCs (44.4 +/- 3.4%) was better than that of the regular contractions (23.3 +/- 3.3%) (p less than 0.01; n = 18). After 30 min of hypoxia (the second hypoxic period), regular contractions and PRCs decreased to 2.2 +/- 0.6% and 13.6 +/- 1.6% of baseline values, respectively (p less than 0.001; n = 18). However, the recovery from the second hypoxic injury was not significant for either regular contractions or PRCs. The % diastolic tension, which was normalized to the baseline for regular contractions, increased to 113.2 +/- 6.9% and 133.6 +/- 8.4% at the end of the first and the second hypoxic periods, respectively. There was statistically significant correlation between the % diastolic tension and the % hypoxic injury of PRCs (p less than 0.002; n = 18). There was no significant relationship between % diastolic tension and % hypoxic injury of regular contractions. There was no statistically significant correlation between % diastolic tension and % recovery from the hypoxic injury of either regular contractions or PRCs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)