Clonidine suppresses digitalis-induced ventricular tachycardia in cats

Effects of intravenous (IV) and intravertebral arterial (IA) administrations of alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonist, clonidine (CLO) and its antagonist, yohimbine (YOH, 0.05 mg/kg, IA), on the ventricular tachycardia (VT) induced with IV acetyl strophanthidin (AS) were studied in cats anesthetized with intraperitoneal chloralose. IVAS does-dependently produced cardiac arrhythmias including complete atrioventricular conduction block (118 +/- 14 micrograms/kg), junctional tachycardia (128 +/- 20 micrograms/kg), multiform ventricular premature beats (157 +/- 21 micrograms/kg) and sustained VT (220 +/- 23 micrograms/kg). IACLO dose for terminating VT induced with IVAS was about one fifth of IVCLO dose. IACLO dose for terminating VT induced with IVAS + IVYOH was significantly higher than that in VT induced with IVAS (14.8 +/- 3.7 vs 5.8 +/- 1.0 micrograms/kg, p less than 0.005). These experiments clearly demonstrated that IAYOH specifically antagonized the antiarrhythmic effect of IA CLO on the AS-induced VT. Since small dose of IA administration of the drugs acts mainly on the central nervous system, we suggest that the antiarrhythmic effect of CLO on AS-induced VT is likely through the central alpha-2 adrenoceptor.