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Published on: April 26, 2015
The effects of κ-opioid receptor on stretch-induced electrophysiological changes in infarcted rat hearts
1Department of Cardiology, the First Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China.
Introduction:
Kappa-opioid receptors (κ-OR) and mechanoelectric feedback seem to have common pathways that influence electrophysiological changes resulting from acute myocardial infarction (MI). This study aims to determine the effects of the κ-OR on stretch-induced electrophysiological changes after acute MI.
Methods:
Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: sham operated, MI, U-50488H (a selective κ-OR agonist) -treated MI (MI+U-50488H) and nor-BNI (a selective κ-OR antagonist) -treated MI (MI+nor-BNI). After Langendorff perfusion to maintain stabilization, a transient stretch (5 seconds) was delivered early in diastole. Electrophysiological changes were recorded for 1 minute before and after stretch. Similarly, the 20%, 50% and 90% monophasic action potential duration (MAPD20, MAPD50 and MAPD90, respectively) and stretch-induced arrhythmias were recorded.
Results:
MAPD90 significantly increased in all 4 groups. MAPD90 in the MI and MI+nor-BNI groups increased significantly before stretch (P < 0.05) and after stretch (P < 0.01) but was reversed in the MI+U-50488H group (P > 0.05). MAPD90 in the MI group was increased compared with that of the MI+U-50488H group but decreased compared with that of the MI+ nor-BNI group after stretch (P < 0.01). The arrhythmia score in the MI and MI+nor-BNI groups was higher than that of the sham-operated group (P < 0.01), and the arrhythmia score in the MI+nor-BNI group was higher than that in MI group after stretch (P < 0.01). The arrhythmia score of the MI+U-50488H group was lower than that of MI group after stretch (P < 0.01).
Conclusions:
The κ-OR could influence the stretch-induced electrophysiological changes and play an antiarrhythmic role in stretch-induced arrhythmias after acute MI.
