Establishment of a canine model of cardiac memory using endocardial pacing via internal jugular vein

Development of experimental animal models has played an important role in understanding the mechanisms of cardiac memory. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a new canine model of cardiac memory using endocardial ventricular pacing via internal jugular vein.

Twelve Beagle dogs underwent placement of a permanent ventricular pacemaker mimicking the use of pacemakers in humans and induction of cardiac memory by endocardial ventricular pacing.

Cardiac memory was achieved in 11 of 12 attempts overall. Procedural mortality due to cardiac tamponade (n = 1) occurred in the first attempt. The T-wave memory persisted for 96 +/- 17 minutes and 31 +/- 6 days in the short-term and long-term cardiac memory groups, respectively. There were no significant differences in the heart rate, blood pressure and echocardiographic parameters in the animals between before and after ventricular pacing in the short-term and long-term cardiac memory groups. No significant pathologic changes with the light microscopy were found in the present study in all dogs.

The model does require surgery but is not as invasive as an open-chest model. This canine model can serve as a useful tool for studying mechanisms of cardiac memory.